Historic Rain in Florida Takes Toll on Pool Job Sites

BREVARD COUNTY, FL — For swimming pool builders along Florida’s Space Coast, Monday, November 2, was anything but business as usual. An extraordinary rainfall event inundated portions of Brevard County, flooding neighborhoods, closing roads and turning active swimming pool construction sites into muddy reservoirs.

According to The Washington Post, portions of Florida’s Space Coast received as much as 28 inches of rain in approximately 36 hours, equivalent to nearly half the region’s typical annual rainfall. The relentless downpours overwhelmed drainage systems, flooded residential neighborhoods and brought construction activity to a standstill.

In some of the hardest-hit communities, nearly two feet of rain fell as a slow-moving weather system repeatedly delivered heavy downpours across the region. The National Weather Service characterized rainfall in portions of southern Brevard County as a 1-in-1,000-year event, a statistical designation indicating a 0.1% probability of rainfall of that magnitude occurring in any given year.

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By Tuesday, November 3, the storm had claimed at least two lives. Joshua Bennett, 34, was found dead in his truck in a flooded area of southeastern Palm Bay, while Archie Richards, 78, was discovered inside his Toyota Tacoma in a canal near his home in Malabar. Emergency crews rescued hundreds of people as rising water inundated residential neighborhoods and left vehicles stranded.

Preliminary rainfall reports showed 23.69 inches in Grant-Valkaria, 23.44 inches in Malabar and 19.75 inches in Palm Bay. The extraordinary rainfall overwhelmed drainage systems, flooded homes and brought construction activity to a standstill in affected neighborhoods.

For Jeff Jones, owner and builder at Spacefront Pool & Spa, the storm struck directly at the communities he serves. Several of his active construction projects were caught in the flooding.

From Active Construction Sites to Underwater Excavations

Before the storm, Jones’s crews had been progressing through the normal stages of swimming pool construction. Excavations had been completed, plumbing installed and, at some locations, steel reinforcement and forming were already underway.

“Today was one of those days that reminds you just how unpredictable the construction industry can be, especially here on Florida’s Space Coast,” Jones said. “Today we had multiple swimming pool construction sites flood, freshly excavated pools filling with water and surrounding soil washing back into the pools.”

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For a pool builder, an open excavation represents considerably more than a hole in the ground. By the time plumbing, rebar, and forms are installed, crews have already invested substantial labor and materials into preparing the site for the next phase of construction.

Flooding at this stage can undo days of work and leave contractors facing costly repairs. But before Jones could begin assessing the damage, there were more immediate concerns.

A Builder’s First Priority: Safety

“Even with roads closed due to flooding, I made it out to our job sites to assess the situation and address immediate hazards,” Jones said. “One of my biggest concerns was the electrical equipment associated with our pumps.”

With floodwaters rising, he worked to disconnect electrical power safely and remove pumps where conditions allowed.

“Some of my pumps were a foot below water.”

The danger wasn’t limited to electrical equipment. Submerged excavations concealed steel reinforcement, unstable soil and other hazards that could pose serious risks to anyone attempting to recover materials or equipment.

Jones understood there was a point where the effort to protect a construction site just had to stop.

“You can rebuild a swimming pool. You can’t replace someone’s life.”

But the damage to his construction sites wasn’t the only thing weighing on Jones.

“What made this situation even more devastating was that some of our customers’ homes were flooding as well,” Jones said.

“As a business owner, your first instinct is to protect your work and your investment. But you quickly realize there’s a much bigger picture.”

The flooding had turned what began as a construction emergency into something far more personal, with Jones balancing the responsibility of protecting his business against the immediate needs of the families he serves.

Weeks of Recovery Ahead

With the immediate danger beginning to subside, Jones faces the difficult task of assessing what can be salvaged from his flooded construction sites.

The damage to an unfinished swimming pool can extend well beyond the water visible in an excavation. Heavy runoff carries soil, sand, and debris into the work area, potentially compromising excavation walls, displacing forms, and undermining surrounding ground. Plumbing and steel may also require inspection or repair before construction can resume.

Some projects may need little more than pumping and cleanup. Others could require extensive excavation repairs, re-forming and additional inspections. Saturated soil and elevated groundwater levels can further complicate recovery, making it necessary to evaluate site conditions before removing accumulated water.

“This is going to set us back weeks,” Jones said.

The setbacks come with additional labor costs, equipment expenses and the challenge of coordinating crews and subcontractors around work that must now be repeated. For a pool builder managing several projects at different stages of construction, those disruptions can ripple through the entire schedule.

Florida contractors are accustomed to dealing with unpredictable weather, but the magnitude of this event illustrates how even experienced builders can find themselves facing circumstances beyond their control.

Jones has spent years working in an industry where weather is an unavoidable part of the business. His experience has taught him the importance of job-site drainage, protecting equipment and preparing crews to respond when conditions improve. Yet even those precautions have their limits.

“Preparation is everything, but even the best preparation can’t prevent Florida from being Florida on a random Monday in November.”

For now, the work ahead involves assessing the damage, restoring affected construction sites, and getting projects moving again. The financial consequences have yet to be fully determined, but the delays are already a certainty.

As Jones put it, “Mother Nature doesn’t care about your construction schedule.”

Photographs courtesy of Jeff Jones, Spacefront Pool & Spa.