ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — For many people in Central Florida, flooding isn’t a rare event. It’s become a growing reality.
But as sea levels continue to rise, researchers warn floodwaters may soon carry an added danger: toxic contamination from hazardous industrial sites vulnerable to future flooding.
A new study from researchers at UCLA and UC Berkeley identified more than 5,500 hazardous facilities across the United States that could face flooding by the end of the century due to sea level rise. Among them, dozens are located in Central Florida.
9 Investigates found 47 at-risk facilities across the Central Florida, including power plants, former military defense sites, industrial facilities, landfills, ports, and wastewater treatment plants.
The concern is not just about damage to the facilities themselves but what could happen to the neighborhoods surrounding them.
Residents in Volusia County have already experienced how devastating floodwaters can become. When Hurricane Milton flooded parts of Holly Hill, some families said raw sewage seeped into their homes, forcing them to tear out walls, flooring, and furniture.
Patricia Santiago says she has watched floodwaters creep closer to her home with every major storm. So far, her home has been spared.
“I’m in the middle of everything else that floods… so yeah, I get really concerned,” Santiago said.
She’s concerned of what flooding here could look like in the years and decades ahead.
Researchers say the threat may not come from a single hurricane, but from a slower-moving problem already underway: sea level rise.
“What used to occur maybe a couple times a century is, by the end of this century, going to become kind of an everyday event in most coastal U.S. cities,” said Lara Cushing, assistant professor at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
According to NOAA projections, sea levels along Volusia County’s coast could rise anywhere from two to seven feet by 2100. That increase could put critical infrastructure directly in harm’s way.
Among the highest-risk facilities identified in the study are a boat manufacturing facility in Flagler County, Port Canaveral, Lake Woodruff (a former military bombing range), and the Holly Hill Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The Holly Hill plant sits directly across the street from Santiago’s home.
“It’s concerning,” Santiago said.
Experts warn that if these sites flood, contaminants could spread into nearby neighborhoods, waterways, and drinking water supplies.
“When sewage treatment plants overflow, they can release pathogens from untreated sewage into floodwaters,” Cushing said. “That’s very dangerous.”
She added that flooding can also disrupt access to clean drinking water and create long-term public health risks.
Researchers point to Hurricane Harvey in 2017 as an example of what can happen when hazardous facilities flood.
At the Arkema chemical plant near Houston, floodwaters knocked out the power systems needed to keep volatile chemicals cool. The chemicals overheated and exploded, forcing evacuations across the surrounding area.
“Those chemicals started to heat up, decompose, and caused an explosion,” Cushing said. “A whole town had to be evacuated.”
The incident highlighted how climate-driven flooding can trigger industrial disasters far beyond the initial storm damage.
Cushing says communities and facility operators must begin planning now for flooding conditions that will become increasingly common in the decades ahead.
“Are they considering the fact that what used to be very infrequent is going to become a very frequent event in the near future?” she said.
Channel 9 reached out to all 47 facilities identified as at risk.
Officials in Holly Hill said the city is already upgrading and elevating parts of its wastewater infrastructure to help prevent sewage overflows during major flooding events.
Port Canaveral said Florida law requires the port to assess its facilities using NOAA sea level rise projections.
Researchers also found the communities most likely to live near flood-prone hazardous sites are often lower-income neighborhoods with more renters and lower voter turnout, raising concerns about environmental justice and whether vulnerable communities will have the resources needed to adapt.
Click here to find the 47 facilities in Central Florida.
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