Water-Related News

Public notice: City of Lakeland working to address Lake Bonny flood conditions

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UPDATE: 10/22/2024

The City of Lakeland is working with several agencies in ongoing efforts to mitigate the sustained flooding on Lake Bonny. The City of Lakeland has been coordinating with the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD), Polk County, US Army Corp of Engineers, and the State of Florida to develop a flood mitigation plan.


There are some areas around Lakeland that were hit very hard with flooding (photos at link below) due to the impacts from Hurricane Milton. The Lakeland area experienced over 12 inches of rain in 24 hours taxing the City’s stormwater system. All area lakes are flooded, and it is very difficult to alleviate flood conditions and lower lake levels. Most of the drainage lakes, tributaries and rivers have high levels and that is not helping flood situations because of the higher-than-normal rainfall over the summer.

Local Hydrology

There are three major watershed basins in the City of Lakeland, and outflows from area lakes flow into either the Hillsborough River or the Peace River. The Peace and Hillsborough Rivers eventually flow into the Gulf of Mexico. Water flows from higher elevation to lower elevation. The downstream rivers (Peace and Hillsborough) flow through relatively flat terrain with little elevation changes, which leads to significant regional flooding after major storm events. The Peace and Hillsborough Rivers have been in flood stage since the passing of Tropical Storm Debby, and Hurricanes Helene and Milton have fully exacerbated the flooding situation. This makes it very difficult to drain flooded upstream waters.

The largest surface water drainage system is Lake Parker. Lakes at higher elevation that flow into Lake Parker include Lake Gibson (via Lake Crago) and Lake Mirror. Lake Bonny is at a relatively equal elevation to Lake Parker, and the City has been pushing water from Lake Bonny to Lake Parker with a very high-volume pump (picture attached) at 5,000 gallons per minute since August 5, 2024. The water from Lake Parker eventually flows to the Peace River via Lake Hancock but both those water bodies are also at flood level. Flooding occurred throughout the City and Polk County and the drainage continues to impact the Lake Parker/Bonny watersheds, with water slowly draining into the lakes. Even though a high-volume pump is removing water from Lake Bonny, the urbanized drainage basin continues to input water to the lake.