The Lake Manatee Dam released 18 billion gallons of water during Debby

Manatee County officials said Tuesday that enough water was released during Tropical Storm Debby to fill the lake with three manatees.

During Tuesday's public county commission meeting, residents continued to express their frustration to Manatee County commissioners and staff about the flooding in the area caused by the water discharge.

The county is currently negotiating with a firm to conduct an independent investigation into flooding problems during the tropical storm and has also hired the Tampa Bay Regional Council to serve as a neutral auditor.

“We are following the third-party analysis, the independent investigation,” said Deputy Administrator Evan Pilachowski. “We agree that this is an important step for us to really understand what the impact of the dam was and what the underlying cause was for the flooding that people experienced last month.”