Recovery efforts continue in Lake County, just about two weeks after torrential rains there damaged homes and roads. Beginning on Oct. 26, in the span of 24 hours, parts of the county took on close to 20 inches of rain.
RELATED: Roads remain closed, two days after downpour drenches Mount Dora
Many homes in Lake County suffered structural damage as a result of flooding from the storm, said Brandi Martin, executive director of Lake Support and Emergency Recovery or LASER, a nonprofit organization founded in 2004.
Since the storm, LASER has heard from more than 50 residents and is case-managing 23 who need help restoring their damaged homes. A handful of those 23 properties are so badly washed out that the nonprofit is seeking donations of fill dirt for yards, Martin said.
“There (are) literally areas where it looks like a river ran through their backyard and has seeped underneath some of the foundation,” Martin said.
Although LASER itself can’t fix a home’s foundation, it can help answer homeowners’ questions and connect them to resources. Martin said the group often serves as a "liaison" between residents and either Lake County or one of its cities. The nonprofit typically responds to federally-declared disasters but is assisting with recovery from the recent rainstorm thanks to a grant of up to $100,000 from the Mount Dora Community Trust.
That funding support allowed LASER staff to kick off their efforts much more quickly than usual, Martin said. “What we're doing in these homes, (it) normally takes six months before we even start this process, because it takes that long for grants to open up.”
So far, LASER staff, volunteers and community partners have been helping clean up flooded homes, including cutting out drywall and ripping up flooring, so the homes can dry out. The goal is to help residents restore their homes to a pre-disaster condition.
Martin said LASER is seeking additional, trained volunteers: ideally, ones who have experience working with drywall, mold and mildew. The group is also seeking donations of fill dirt.
Colleen Fisher lives in the Lake Joanna neighborhood of Eustis, right around the corner from the lake giving the neighborhood its name. There, water levels remained high nearly two weeks after the late October rainstorm.
“I've never seen it come down that hard for that long,” Fisher said of the storm. “People just weren’t prepared.”
On the day of the rainstorm, Fisher was hosting a birthday party for her niece — who wound up getting stuck in the neighborhood overnight, unable to navigate the flooded roads. Fisher said she’s grateful the water only came up to the bottom step in her garage and didn’t make its way inside the house. But the next morning, she said, her front yard resembled a lake.
“They had sump pumps going, three or four of 'em going across here. It took them two and a half days to get the water off of this property,” Fisher said. “I hope that they can resolve the drainage situation here.”
Crews are working to restore damaged roads, including Wolf Branch Road, which will be elevated by about one foot, according to Lake County. That road is also getting more pipes installed beneath it, to improve stormwater flow and reduce flooding. The county currently expects Wolf Branch Road to reopen next month.
North Donnelly Street near Mount Dora remains closed until further notice, from Limit Avenue north to Fiddler Drive. The road collapsed from a surge of stormwater during the rainstorm, according to Mount Dora representatives.
