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Florida Residents Urged to Flee Flooding

Posted on: Sunday, 22 June 2003, 06:00 CDT

Emergency officials urged the evacuation Sunday of more than 600 homes downstream from Lake Manatee after a flood gate on a dam holding back the lake jammed.

The water level was already 5 feet higher than normal, and rain in the region was sending water streaming into the lake faster than two open flood gates could release it.

Crews with cranes and cables tried without success to pry open a third gate that jammed shut late Saturday. Without that third gate open, water was expected to begin spilling over the dam, about 15 miles east of Bradenton, on Sunday.

"That lake is going to get so full it's going to get to the emergency spillways," said Larry Leinhauser, spokesman for Manatee County public safety emergency operations. "The problem is we've never used them."

Engineers said the concrete dam wouldn't be damaged, but Leinhauser said residents living in a mostly rural area stretching about four miles west of Lake Manatee were "strongly advised" to leave Sunday morning.

"It's on the verge of being mandatory," he said.

The lake normally is 38 feet deep but was at nearly 43 feet and rising 8,000 cubic feet per second early Sunday.

Forecasters expected up to 6 more inches of rain in the area during the day. As much as a foot had fallen in the area southeast of Tampa since midweek, and a flood watch was in effect in 18 central and south Florida counties.

"We've gotten torrential downpours here. It's been a mess," Leinhauser said. "Like my neighborhood. I could have swam out of it this morning."

An area of deep tropical moisture in the Louisiana Gulf Coast has generated heavy showers and thunderstorms for days, said David Rittenberry of the National Weather Service. Parts of Manatee County reported up to 20 inches last week.

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