County commissioners today approved more than $70 million in storm-hardening and drainage projects designed to keep neighborhoods from getting swamped the next time heavy rains roll through. The cash will go toward ditch cleanups, culvert repairs and upgrades to wastewater lift stations that officials say are crucial to avoiding a repeat of the inland flooding that hammered the county in 2024. Leaders pitched the package as a direct response to repeated storm damage and a way to better protect some of the county’s most vulnerable neighborhoods.
According to the Tampa Free Press, the freshly approved slate of work builds on roughly $9 million in drainage projects cleared earlier this year. It includes about $42 million to clean and restore ditches and drains and…..