HOLIDAY, Fla. — A fix could soon be on the way for some Pasco County communities plagued by flooding.
FEMA is allocating millions of dollars for the trouble spots.
Yanni Lorentzos says his neighborhood in Holiday floods all the time.
“I just feel bad for the elderly people here that have to drive. I feel really bad for them so I try to help them as much as I can.”
He says it’s easy to see what the problem is — not enough drainage.
“There’s a lot of ditches everywhere and it doesn’t want to go anywhere and that’s not good.”
But at the Public Works Department, plans are underway to change all that.
Officials says the area north and south of Flora Avenue is where they’ll use about $2 million in FEMA dollars first.
“A lot of the water that falls on these routes and down these streets has trouble where it’s going and where it would be going would be this pond and this pond and this larger pond. And ultimately here to the Anclote River,” said assistant director Donald Carey.
Phase one of the fix is doubling the size of a pipe in a large pond to help the flow of water into a nearby conservation area. Phase two is repairing storm water drainage in the surrounding streets.
“Even in a normal summer rain fall event you’ll get water standing in the streets. That’s a nuisance. But in the bigger events, you get water in the houses. That’s more than a nuisance. And we hope to take care of all that with this project,” said Carey.
The project in Holiday could start as soon as May and take a couple years to finish.
FEMA is also expected to fund two other projects in Pasco County.
One is in South Zephyrhills. The other is near Gateway Mobile Home Park in Port Richey, where we’ve seen flooding so bad, residents had to be rescued.
“I can’t wait for them to start working on the project here. That is for sure,” said Lorentzos.
