TAMPA, FL -- With the sound of lawn mowers, you could hear progress in progress village friday morning... with hillsborough county public works crews at work.But resident Lloyd Wllingham didn't expect anyone there so soon. "It did take too long. And the reality of it is it'll take another four, five years before anything else is done again," he said.
Not so, says the county. They cleaned out ditches - to keep them from holding up too much rainwater - and say they plan to come back soon.
As street sweepers even pushed dirt and mud off the streets, Lea Hollar with the county's Public Works Department told ABC Action News it's all preventative work. "So that as the flood waters recede and we have other rain throughout the year, the system will work and the water will actually go into the creek like it's supposed to," Hollar said.But Eugenie Shuler, who's lived in Progress Village for more than 30 years, said she's glad something was done - but worries none of it is enough to fix the ongoing flooding problem in her neighborhood. "So I guess they just came out here to say they did something so everybody will shut up or be quiet," she said. "But it looks terrible. It's worse."
Flood water still sits inside Sallie Holme's home, and the odor from the wet carpet is too much for her to handle. "Terrible. In my head I smell it. Even when I unlocked the door this morning, I could smell it because carpet carries an odor," she said.
Sallie moved into the house with her late husband back in 1960, and she doesn't want to leave the home that's filled with so many good memories. Even if it's filled with flood water - again.
Archie Creek, county officials say, is about 6 ½ feet deep right now. They need it to lower significantly before they can clean it really well, at the bottom. "As storm water recedes, before school starts, this will be mowed again, which will be in August," Hollar said. "And then when winter comes, and the water dries up, we will come in and clean it out again."
Sallie told us: "It would make me happier 'cause I wouldn't be afraid when it rains or storms for the water to come in. This is the third time that water has come in from that ditch."
The creek is right next to Sallie's home and she hopes the county keeps its word.
The Public Works Department says they've got a long list of places they have to work on and clean up throughout Hillsborough County - but there is a chance that cleaning out Archie Creek for residents may move up on their list of priorities - after seeing the latest flooding they had to go through.
