Rebuilding for Tomorrow program funding will cover drainage, pump station and culvert repairs and improvements
Hillsborough County was awarded a $709 million Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Relief (CDBG-DR) grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to assist with recovery and mitigation efforts related to hurricanes Helene and Milton. The grant will help local communities and neighborhoods with the greatest unmet long-term recovery needs. These funds will support improving the County's stormwater infrastructure and provide assistance to homeowners who suffered damages during the storms.
About half of that funding will go toward projects to repair damage the storms caused to channels, culverts, pump stations, wastewater lift stations, and other infrastructure, and for projects that will improve the area's resilience for future storms.
An initial list of grant-funded projects is already approved:
- Jackson Springs Drainage Improvements
- Seffner/Mango Drainage Improvements
- North Ola Avenue Drainage Improvements
- University Area Drainage Improvements
- Front Street Drainage Improvements in Valrico
- Shangri-La Permanent Stormwater Pump Station
- Countywide Culvert Renewal
- Culvert Repair / Replacement (five sites)
- Channel Restoration (four projects)
- Stormwater System Restoration
- Town 'N Country Regional Drainage Improvements (Lower Sweetwater Creek Watershed)
- Casey Road at Lowell Road Drainage Improvements
- Falkenburg - Six Mile Creek Road Drainage Improvements
- Canal Street Drainage Improvements
- Lift Station Resiliency (171 wastewater lift stations around the county)
Many of these projects will begin design phase as early as summer 2026.
Funding will be limited to projects that help low-and-moderate-income communities or meet an urgent need.
Hurricane Helene in late September 2024 caused major flooding along the coasts and rivers, primarily from the strongest storm surge the area has seen in decades. Hurricane Milton's arrival less than two weeks after Helene brought hurricane-force winds, as much as 15 inches of rain, and widespread flooding, including in inland neighborhoods that had seldom experienced flooding.