Public comments were extended at a Volusia County meeting Tuesday evening, so dozens of residents inside the packed room could voice their concerns and demands for solutions on flooding.
The residents organized following Hurricane Milton, which left their homes, land, and roads under water. Many remain that way a week after the storm.
At the county meeting, most of the people said growth should happen responsibly, saying newer developments are built higher, rushing stormwater water down to older, lower-lying properties.
The council listened, as a packed room in Volusia County Chambers got up one by one to share their complaints and plead for help. People like Martha Ashley, from Glenwood.
“We all pay for this. We are all tired of paying for this. People have been displaced for the first time ever because their homes or properties have flooded and the number of those people is quickly climbing. The cities and county are responsible for this because permits were issued for this,” Ashley said. “It’s time to stop.”
According to Emergency Management Director Clint Mecham, rainfall in the county during Hurricane Milton totaled 16.5 inches in the hardest hit areas, such as Ormond Beach.
Mecham also said this came after the county had been hit with heavy rain for the two weeks prior to the storm and lands were already “very wet” and saturated.
Mecham said that the region, from Osceola down to Port St. Lucie on Florida’s east coast, experienced up to 38 tornadoes at some point. He said the NWS has yet to indicate whether Hurricane Milton counts as a 100-year storm event, a storm with only 1% chance of happening.
“According to the National Weather Service and the folks that work there out of the Melbourne office, their experience level goes back 30 years, and their exact comment was ‘We’ve never seen anything like it,’” Mecham said.
The county recorded that the 100-year storm event means 12 inches of rain in a 24-hour period, saying that if Hurricane Milton brought more than that then it “exceeds a 100-year storm event,” but the NWS has made no official comment yet.
Thousands in Volusia County say they have been battling persistent flooding for years, with many of them blaming newer developments for the rise in the frequency and intensity of the floods.
Several cities and neighborhoods in the county have passed moratoriums on new developments in the past year due to flooding and stormwater maintenance concerns. Pat Joshlin of Common Ground Farms said the county needs to stop “business as usual” and do the same.
“We need to stop it. We need to put a moratorium on building anywhere in Volusia County. It needs to stop,” Joshlin said, as the room broke in a roar of applause.
When public participation had ended, District 3 Councilman Danny Robins said residents should reach out to their district representatives directly with their concerns.
Councilman David Santiago, of District 5, said he took offense to allegations of indifference.
“It doesn’t fall light on me, and I don’t think it falls light on my colleagues either,” Santiago said.
Santiago said the county created a committee tasked to work on additional standards for stormwater management. In a Sept. 3 county meeting, Santiago voted to disband that committee.
Mecham said around 51,000 homes have reported damages, with an approximated cost of $267 million in property damages for the county, so far.
Lillian Hernandez Caraballo is a Report for America corps member.
