Board addresses flooding concerns in southeast Polk

The Polk County Board of County Commissioners has approved a plan outlined by Roads and Drainage engineer Jay Jarvis that will help alleviate troublesome flooding around Crooked Lake near Babson Park.

Jarvis told commissioners last week there were citizen and Southwest Florida Water Management District reports that the flooding was becoming an issue, in light of the heavy rains that have inundated Polk this summer.

The solution, according to Jarvis, is to clear existing canals and weirs of overgrowth and debris so water can resume flow — but the county doesn’t own the land or have easements to allow maintenance crews access to the areas.

Jarvis said the county had surveyed the property from the air and could see that the canals and weirs were contributing to the water accumulation restricting drainage. He added that the last time the interconnecting canals and weirs had been cleaned was more than a decade ago following a series of hurricanes that criss-crossed the county.