Pasco County is just a year removed from some of its worst ever flooding. Now comes the threat of more damage as heavy rains are forecasted this week.
On Ironbark Drive in Port Richey, Cassy Langlois and Kaitlyn Motard are both expectant mothers, but they were not expecting to wake up to flooding Monday morning.
“I have my three-year-old son. We have our pets here. It’s worrisome that we are going to lose a lot of stuff,” said Langlois.
The retention pond on Iron Bark Drive spilled over, and while county workers do their best to pump out the water, Cassy ended up grabbing a sand bucket to try and dry out her car.
The water hadn’t reached her house yet.
“We got sandbags from the county. So, I guess right now, we are just waiting it out to see if it will go down a little bit,” said Langlois.
A few houses down, Jennifer Leatham has had her sandbag wall up for about a month.
“You have to worry about it every time it rains,” she said.
Flooding hit her house hard in years past.
“Three years ago, we had a complete remodel,” she said.
There were also trouble spots in Hudson Monday, although some kids are making the best of it by kayaking down Dayton Drive.
“We are usually just going up and down swimming and playing bumper karts,” said 11-year-old Steven Kirk.
With more rain forecasted in the days to come, relief might not be coming to these flood-prone areas any time soon. Many roads are closed to cars.
“Take deep breaths. I don’t know... It is hard. My kids don’t even want to be here when it floods and stuff. They want to go somewhere else, and I have to stay and fight it,” said Leatham.
So far, no evacuations have been ordered in Pasco County. Most of Monday was rain free, and about 12 pumps were around the county trying to lower water levels before more rain comes.
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