Turn flood reports into evidence

Document the Flooding. Contact Tallahassee. Build the Case.

State leaders cannot see what is happening inside every Brevard County neighborhood. Residents can help build the record by documenting where flooding happens, when it begins, how high the water rises, and what may be preventing it from draining.

The goal is bigger than collecting photographs. We need usable information that can be mapped, compared, verified, and presented to engineers, local governments, state legislators, agencies, and grant reviewers.

Florida legislative calendar

When is the Florida Legislature in session?

March 2, 2027

Under Florida's regular-session schedule, the 2027 Legislative Session is expected to begin on Tuesday, March 2, 2027. Regular sessions generally last no more than 60 consecutive days, which would place the expected end of the session around April 30, 2027, unless the schedule is changed or extended.

The 2026 Regular Session ran from January 13 through March 13, 2026. Florida uses an earlier January start during even-numbered years and a March start during odd-numbered years.

Committee meetings and legislative delegation meetings begin before the regular session. That means residents should not wait until March to contact lawmakers. Budget requests, bills, priorities, and local projects may already be taking shape months earlier.

Check Official Session Calendars Search and Track Bills

Always verify dates and meeting schedules on the official Florida Senate and Florida House websites. Special sessions may also be called outside the regular calendar.

How to find and contact your state legislators

Florida residents are represented by a state representative and a state senator. Your elected officials may have both a district office and a Tallahassee office.

1. Find your district Enter your home address into the Florida Senate's official legislator lookup tool.

2. Open the member page Look for the legislator's phone numbers, email form, staff contacts, district office, and Tallahassee office.

3. Send the evidence Provide a short summary, several labeled photographs, the exact location, rainfall information, and the action you are requesting.

4. Follow up Ask which staff member handles flooding, stormwater, infrastructure, appropriations, grants, or environmental issues.

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Find your legislators

The Florida Senate's address lookup tool identifies the state senator and state representative assigned to a particular address.

Use the official Find Your Legislators tool

District information may also appear on your voter registration card.

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Ways to contact them

Call the district or Tallahassee office.
Send a concise email or written letter.
Request an appointment with the legislator or staff.
Attend a local legislative delegation meeting.
Submit testimony at a relevant committee hearing.
Provide a one-page summary with supporting evidence.

Florida public-records reminder: Email addresses and messages sent to public officials may become public records. Do not include private medical information, Social Security numbers, bank information, children's personal information, or anything else that does not need to be publicly disclosed.

What should you say when contacting a legislator?

Legislators and their staff receive many calls and emails. A clear, specific message is more useful than a long message that does not explain what happened or what action is being requested.

Identify yourself as a constituent.
Include your name, community, ZIP code, and state legislative district if you know it.
Describe the flooding in one or two sentences.
Explain when it happened, where it happened, how high the water rose, and whether homes, roads, vehicles, septic systems, wells, or businesses were affected.
Provide organized supporting information.
Attach labeled photographs, videos, a map pin or coordinates, rainfall totals, and a timeline.
Ask for a specific action.
Examples include requesting a meeting, supporting a drainage study, helping pursue state funding, reviewing agency coordination, updating flood maps, or supporting a stormwater project.
Ask for a response and contact person.
Request the name of the staff member assigned to the issue and ask when you should follow up.

What information should residents collect?

A photograph shows that water was present. A complete flood report helps show when the water arrived, where it traveled, how deep it became, how long it remained, and what infrastructure may have failed.

Information to collect	What to record	Why it matters
Date	Record the month, day, and year of the flooding. Record every separate flood event.	Dates allow reports to be compared with rainfall records, tides, government work logs, emergency calls, and other neighborhood reports.
Beginning and ending time	Note when water first appeared, when it reached its highest point, when rain stopped, and when the water finally drained.	This helps show how quickly water accumulated and how slowly the drainage system recovered.
Exact location	Record the street address, nearest intersection, neighborhood, subdivision, road name, canal, ditch, culvert, pond, or landmark.	General statements such as “North Brevard flooded” cannot be mapped or tied to a specific drainage system.
GPS coordinates or map pin	Drop a pin in Google Maps, Apple Maps, or another mapping application and copy the latitude and longitude.	Coordinates help place the report accurately on a GIS map, even when a location does not have a standard street address.
Rainfall amount	Record rainfall from a properly placed rain gauge when possible. Include the total, measurement period, and whether the gauge overflowed.	Rainfall totals help compare flooding severity between storms and determine whether repeated flooding happens during common storms or only extreme events.
Water depth	Measure the water against a ruler, yardstick, fence post, curb, garage opening, door, or another fixed object. Do not enter moving or contaminated water.	A measured depth is stronger evidence than a photograph without a scale.
Highest water mark	Photograph or mark the highest safe location reached by the water. Record whether it entered a garage, vehicle, crawlspace, or home.	The high-water mark documents the maximum severity after the water begins to recede.
Duration	Record how many minutes, hours, or days the property, road, ditch, or structure remained flooded.	Long-lasting flooding may point to blocked drainage, undersized infrastructure, high groundwater, limited storage, or restricted outfalls.
Direction of water movement	Note where the water appeared to come from and where it attempted to go. Record whether it flowed from a road, development, pond, ditch, canal, neighboring property, or wooded area.	The direction of movement may help identify upstream and downstream drainage connections.
Drainage condition	Photograph nearby ditches, culverts, drains, swales, canals, retention ponds, and outfalls. Note blockages, sediment, vegetation, collapsed pipes, debris, or standing water before the storm.	These conditions may explain why water could not move through the system as designed.
Road conditions	Record flooded roads, washed-out shoulders, closed intersections, impassable areas, stalled vehicles, and emergency-access problems.	Road flooding may prevent residents, firefighters, ambulances, school buses, utility crews, and law enforcement from reaching an area.
Property impacts	Record damage to homes, garages, sheds, vehicles, fences, landscaping, electrical systems, appliances, wells, and septic systems.	Damage information helps show the human and financial consequences of repeated flooding.
Septic, sewer, or well concerns	Note sewage odors, sewage backups, septic overflows, bubbling toilets, discolored well water, or advisories from local agencies.	Flooding can become a public-health and water-quality issue, not only a property issue.
Photos and videos	Take wide photographs showing the area and closer photographs showing water depth, damage, drains, culverts, or high-water marks.	Multiple angles provide context and make it harder to misunderstand the location or severity.
Previous flood history	List earlier dates when the same location flooded and whether the problem is becoming more frequent, deeper, or slower to drain.	Repeat reports establish a pattern instead of treating each event as an isolated complaint.
Nearby development or land changes	Note recent clearing, grading, filling, construction, roadwork, drainage work, pond changes, or new impervious surfaces.	Changes to land elevation, storage, vegetation, or runoff patterns may affect surrounding properties.
Government report numbers	Save complaint numbers, work-order numbers, emails, inspection reports, photographs submitted to agencies, and the names of departments contacted.	This creates a paper trail showing when officials were notified and how the issue was handled.
Witness information	With permission, record the names and contact information of neighbors who observed the same event.	Multiple independent reports can confirm the geographic extent and timing of an event.
Estimated losses	Keep receipts, repair estimates, insurance correspondence, cleanup expenses, hotel costs, and replacement costs.	Financial records show the real cost of delaying drainage and flood prevention projects.

Safety comes first. Never walk or drive into floodwater to obtain a photograph or measurement. Water may hide washed-out roads, open drainage structures, electrical hazards, wildlife, sewage, chemicals, or fast-moving currents.

How to capture useful GPS coordinates

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Using a phone

Open your map application, press and hold the exact location to drop a pin, and copy the displayed latitude and longitude.

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Mark the correct spot

Place the pin where the flooding was observed, such as a culvert, driveway, road crossing, ditch, pond, or flooded structure—not merely at the center of the neighborhood.

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Add a description

Coordinates should be paired with a short description such as “northwest corner of intersection” or “culvert beside eastern driveway.”

How to document rainfall correctly

Use a rain gauge placed in an open area away from roofs, trees, fences, and irrigation sprinklers.
Record the beginning and ending time of the measurement period.
Record the total in inches, including decimals when available.
State whether the gauge was emptied during the storm and add the separate measurements together.
Note whether the gauge overflowed, tipped over, or may have received water from a sprinkler or roof.
Photograph the gauge reading when it is safe to do so.
Compare your measurement with nearby official or community rain gauges, but keep your original measurement clearly identified.

Residents interested in long-term rainfall reporting may also learn about the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network, commonly known as CoCoRaHS.

Learn about community rainfall monitoring

Take photographs that tell the full story

Photograph the larger area

The full road or intersection
The home or property in relation to the road
The nearby ditch, canal, swale, pond, or culvert
The direction from which water appears to be coming
Nearby development, land clearing, or construction

Photograph specific evidence

Water measured against a ruler or fixed object
High-water marks on walls, doors, fences, or vehicles
Blocked, damaged, or submerged drainage structures
Water entering a garage, home, septic area, or well area
Visible erosion, sediment, debris, or washouts

A strong flood report answers six basic questions: What happened? Where did it happen? When did it begin? How severe was it? How long did it last? What action is needed?

Use consistent file names

Photographs called “IMG_4827” are difficult to organize. Rename important files using the date, location, time, and subject.

Recommended file-name format

YEAR-MONTH-DAY_LOCATION_TIME_DESCRIPTION

Example: 2026-10-15_Example-Road_4-35PM_Culvert-Overflow.jpg

Another example: 2026-10-15_Example-Road_5-10PM_Garage-High-Water-Mark.jpg

Avoid placing private information in the file name if the material may be posted publicly.

Flood event worksheet

Copy this information into a notebook, phone note, spreadsheet, online form, or printed worksheet for each separate flood event.

Flood Event Record

Name or report identification number: Date of flooding: Exact address or location: Nearest intersection or landmark: Latitude and longitude: Time water first appeared: Time water reached its highest point: Time water fully drained: Measured rainfall and measurement period: Maximum measured water depth: Where did the water appear to come from? Where did the water attempt to drain? Were roads blocked or emergency access affected? Did water enter a home, garage, vehicle, or structure? Were septic, sewer, well, or electrical systems affected? Condition of nearby ditches, drains, ponds, canals, and culverts: Previous dates this location flooded: Nearby development, grading, filling, or land changes: Government departments contacted and report numbers: Photograph and video file names: Estimated damage or cleanup costs: Additional observations:

Why more information makes a stronger case

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It creates a map

Exact locations and coordinates allow individual reports to become a community-wide flood map showing repeat locations, clusters, and possible drainage connections.

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It reveals patterns

Dates, rainfall totals, depth, duration, and flood history can show whether problems are isolated, recurring, spreading, or getting worse.

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It supports action

Organized evidence gives elected leaders, engineers, agencies, and grant reviewers something specific to investigate, fund, and measure.

Better documentation can support

Emergency and long-term drainage audits
Updated stormwater master plans
Canal, ditch, swale, and culvert maintenance
Regional watershed and drainage studies
Retention and flood-storage projects
Road and emergency-access improvements
Updated flood-risk and repetitive-loss mapping
State and federal grant applications
Resilient Florida planning and project requests
Legislative appropriations requests
Reviews of development and drainage approvals
Coordination among cities, Brevard County, FDOT, water-management districts, and state agencies

Turn separate stories into a documented public record

One resident may have a photograph. Another may know how long the road remained underwater. Another may have a rain-gauge total. Another may have earlier photographs showing the same location flooding years ago.

When that information is gathered consistently, it becomes more than a collection of complaints. It becomes a record that can be mapped, compared, presented, and used to press for solutions.

We need the dates. We need the times. We need the locations. We need the coordinates. We need the rainfall totals. We need the water depth. We need the drainage conditions. And we need residents to keep documenting every repeat event.

Before meeting with state leaders

Organize the information into a short presentation that a legislator or staff member can understand quickly.

Prepare a one-page summary identifying the affected community and the requested action.
Include a map showing documented flood locations.
Select several representative photographs and label each with its date, time, location, and water depth.
Summarize the number of homes, roads, businesses, wells, septic systems, or public facilities affected.
Include rainfall totals and the length of time water remained.
Explain previous reports made to local governments and what response residents received.
Clearly identify the requested solution, study, project, funding source, agency review, or legislative action.
Leave contact information for a resident or community representative who can answer follow-up questions.

Contacting Tallahassee is not limited to session

Residents can contact legislative offices throughout the year. In fact, early communication may be more effective because lawmakers and staff begin discussing priorities, bills, committee work, and funding requests before the regular session begins.

Be concise, be respectful, provide facts, and tell the office exactly what action you are asking the legislator to take.

Find Your Legislators Legislative Communication Guide

Official resources and further reading

Legislative calendars, elected officials, district boundaries, committee assignments, and meeting schedules may change. Verify current information through official government websites before traveling, attending a meeting, or submitting legislative materials.

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