Flood waters from Shingle Creek following Hurricane Irma are literally drowning homes along Marsh Road and Pleasant Hill Road, despite the efforts of the county to move the water as quickly as possible.

  • 10 homes affected by flood waters
  • Area is a drainage basin for other communities
  • Lakes expected to crest in a day or so

With her hands over her mouth, resident Kellie Maines looks in disbelief at what her home has become.

“It’s completely underwater at this point,” Maines said.

Maines lives close to Shingle Creek, where the water levels have gone past 62 feet at this point.

“The water is at my waist,” Maines explained. She and her family had hours to pack up and go. “I am at a loss for words,” she said.

Maines said it’s starting to smell sewer-like and worries about the environmental implications.

“When water comes in, what does it do? It's going to push stuff up,” Maines said. “Not only am I going to have lost stuff, I am going to have gross nastiness in my house.”

Photo: Stephanie Bechara, staff

Maines lives on Marsh Road and Pleasant Hill Road, where about 10 homes are being affected by floodwaters. William Graf with the South Florida Water Management District told us they’re doing their best to help the levels recede.

“We are moving water as quickly as we can," Graf said. "The gates on Lake Toho, which is where the water from Shingle Creek goes, those gates are out of the water. We are flowing 20,000 gallons a second -- that’s roughly two family-size swimming pools per second.”

Aside from water from Hurricane Irma’s rainfall, the area is also a drainage basin for other communities. Orange County is pumping water out there to keep the West Side Manor community dry.

Those pumps were installed 57 years ago, before regulatory programs existed, so they’re grandfathered in.

Graf said they have no power to stop that, but leaders in Orange and Osceola county are coming together to reach an agreement on operating the structure.

“I know we all got water but there has to be a better solution,” Maines told us.

South Florida Water Management District officials told us the lakes will reach their crest in a day or so, and there should be some gradual recovery soon after.