VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – Residents in Volusia County are spending the weekend stacking sandbags as another round of flooding threatens their streets.
Flooding has become a frequent problem in the Lime Drive neighborhood of Edgewater, where higher-than-normal tides, strong north winds and clogged storm drains leave water with nowhere to go except into the streets and homes at the lowest elevations.
“You know, this was just last night’s storm. Where you’re standing at right now was 12 inches of water yesterday,” Bruce Hill said.
Bruce Hill is a recent resident of Edgewater and said street development and changes to drainage have worsened the problem since Hurricane Ian, forcing families to depend on sandbags and do-it-yourself fixes to keep water out.
“And right now we are the lowest level,” Hill said. “Just everybody building and developing around here without taking into consideration where the water needs to flow — one, how the tides work, how the drainage works. It’s bad for the people of Edgewater.”
[WATCH: Building developments blamed for flooding in Edgewater neighborhood]
Hill explained his flood-prevention routine.
“What we normally do is we duct tape the joints of the doors up there (...) we duct tape this one across the top so it doesn’t flow down in between. We seal it good. Then we sandbag up, we sandbag up to about 36 inches,” he said.
He added that vehicles traveling too quickly in flooded areas create wakes that push water into homes.
Fresh sandbags are available at several locations in Volusia County, including Station 57 in Edgewater, where sand and shovels are provided for residents to bag their own supplies.