Waterlogged

Live Oak — Editor’s note: The following is just three neighborhoods in the county that are still flooded, or have homes that are surrounded by floodwaters, two months following Tropical Storm Debby.

122nd Trail

Suwannee County residents on 122nd Trail remain flooded more than two months after slow moving Tropical Storm Debby dumped copious amounts of rain on the region in late June.

For 26 years Barbara Gill and her husband have lived in a beautiful home in a peaceful country setting surrounded by the wonders of nature just south of the city limits of Live Oak off US 129. At least that’s the way it was before Debby decided to pay a visit. Now it's like living in the middle of a swamp.

Fast rising floodwaters caused by days of nonstop rainfall from Debby inundated a section of roadway and about 10 homes on 122nd Trail. At least five houses remain underwater more than two months after the storm. Gill said she could only recall one other time in those 26 years that 122nd Trail flooded, but she said it was nowhere near as bad and the water quickly receded.

“This time it’s not going away,” she said.

Out of concern for her property and the properties of her displaced neighbors, Gill has been monitoring the water level in the area on a regular basis and has attended numerous meetings of the emergency operations center and other long term recovery meetings, including one headed up by the pastor of Westwood Baptist Church. She said they keep talking about helping people clean up their homes so they can move back in.

“What about the people who still have water in their homes?” she asked. “Are we anywhere on anybody’s list? No,” she said. “Nobody does pumping and I don’t understand that in a flood situation.”

Gill has spoken to Suwannee River Water Management District and gained a lot of information about how the drought has affected the region and why so many sinkholes opened up. She also learned it's a possibility the underground water route in the aquifer could have been altered by recent events, which might explain why certain areas are still flooded.

The water surrounding the homes in Gill’s neighborhood doesn't seem to be in a hurry to evaporate or seep into the ground, according to the measurements Gill has taken. The mosquitoes, she said, were fierce right after the storm, but their bite has let up some.

“I know it’s a scary thing what’s going on with the West Nile,” she said.

When the storm hit, Gill said the water rose quickly and overflowed the roadway before washing into her front yard. Floodwaters were forced into her back porch and laundry room, and some also seeped in under the foundation and into her bedroom. She was also without electricity for a week after the storm.

The water, she said, was backed up into her driveway from out on 122nd Trail and she had no way to get out. A large puddle of water still lies in a portion of her front yard and she is unable to use the toilets in her home because the septic tank is full of water. Without roadway access there is no way for a pumping truck to get onto her property to pump it out.

“It’s all mushy over our septic tank,” she said. “You still can’t walk out there. You sink up to your ankles in mud.”

A Port-o-John sits in her backyard now, replacing a Lowe's bucket she and her husband were using as a toilet. She carries her house wastewater out in buckets instead of letting it go down the drains into the compromised septic tank.

Gill recalled one of her neighbors, Nancy Myers, being evacuated from her home in the early morning hours during the storm before the roadway completely flooded. Myers' home remains flooded and the house next door still has water up to the windows.

Another still flooded house was home to a family with two children, who have temporarily relocated to Lake City. The mother, Gill said, transports her two children back and forth to Suwannee County every school day so that “they have some sort of normalcy” in their lives.

The family next door to Gill whose home is still underwater, comes out after work every day, Gill said. They hop in a Jon boat, which is the only way to get to their home, and they bring their belongings out of the house one at a time and either clean it up or throw it out.

“They’ve been through so much bleach,” said Gill. “They’re just trying to salvage all they can from their house.”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, she said, has been out, but they cannot evaluate the homes and assess damage until they are able to get inside without walking through water.

“So, these people are in limbo,” said Gill. “They don’t know what’s going to happen. They’ve been underwater now since June 26, two solid months.”

Gill believes that because 122nd Trail is a county road, there should be some assistance from the county to help alleviate the flooding.

“I understand their problem,” she said. “Where are we going to pump it? We can’t flood anybody else. The problem is you can’t use public funds on private property. I don’t have a problem with that, except in a disaster.”

Gill said she got permission from John Crapps to pump water to a low spot on property he owns on US 129. The problem is it’s a mile away from the flooded area and all uphill, plus they would need permission from four other property owners to cross their land with hoses.

Gill said she learned that Columbia County at one point had 21 pumps going to relieve floodwaters on county roads and she didn’t understand why Suwannee County has no pumps, although she has heard other people in the county say that the county has pumped their road.

“Now how did they do that?” she asked. “They told me they don’t have any pumps. I’m real confused on that. I’m not pointing fingers. I’m just asking questions.”

She said she can’t believe nobody in Suwannee County knows how to pump water, as many times as the county has gone through similar flooding issues over the years.

“Look at the pictures in restaurants around Suwannee County,” she said. “How many times has there been water all over the county? You mean it only floods in downtown Live Oak? (expletive) It floods everywhere!”

The people in this flooded out neighborhood, she said, feel as if they are stuck between a rock and a hard place. She said she tries to stay calm when talking about it, but her frustrations are more than evident.

Mail service, Gill said, has stopped since the flood and residents are forced to go into town to pick up their mail. School buses also can’t get into the area.

Since she can’t get out of her driveway and 122nd Trail is a dead end street on one end, Gill had to ask the neighbor behind her if she could cut through their yard to get out to 122nd Terrace. The neighbor graciously agreed and the Gill’s had to cut down a tree and take out a portion of their fence in order to make a passageway over to 122nd Terrace.

Gill and her husband continue taking water measurements of the flooded area on a regular basis. The water, she said, isn’t moving at all.

“It looks like a very still lake,” she said. “At this rate, it’s going to be here another three months. I just don’t think five months of having water in your house is acceptable for a county that has options.”

Gill has been pressing the county to pursue FEMA mitigation funds to help not only fix the drainage problem, but fix it to where it doesn’t happen again.

Getting rid of storm debris was another issue and Gill said nothing was ever said as to where to dispose of it. She said she tried to take a load to a nearby landfill and was told she had to go to the north part of the county, where she had to pay an unexpected $20 fee.

“I think what disturbs us the most is not knowing what the county is doing,” Gill said.

74th Trace - Oakwood Forest

Barbara McKee from Oakwood Forest, a small subdivision barely half a block outside the city limits of Live Oak has homes that are still surrounded by floodwaters from Tropical Storm Debby two months later.

On Tuesday, Aug. 21, McKee, along with other residents of Oakwood Forest, pleaded with county commissioners to help them get water pumped out of their neighborhood, but to date, nothing has been done.

At that meeting County Commissioner Jesse Caruthers said the city was pumping until they got Nobles Ferry out from under water and then they quit. Since then, the county has been out to the site, but all they do is look and leave, said McKee’s neighbor Deborah Harris who lives across the street.

McKee said after the commission meeting she tried speaking with Live Oak City Administrator Bob Farley for an update on the situation, but was told by his receptionist that she needed to contact the county. When McKee went to the county offices she was told by a receptionist that she needed to talk to Farley. She then called Live Oak Public Works Director Brent Whitman on Aug. 30, who told her his hands were tied because it is public property and there is nothing he can do.

“I can’t get assistance from anybody,” she said.

McKee bought her mobile home in Oakwood Forest new four years ago in 2008 and she said she just remodeled the inside last year. She had a metal storage shed and an above ground pool in her fenced in backyard, which have also been destroyed by floodwaters. The water inside her home was at chest level immediately after the initial flood and then went down to knee level after the pumping done by the city.

“You couldn’t even see my fence,” McKee said.

A meter box beside her home was completely underwater and Suwannee Valley Electric came out and turned off power to her home and several others farther down the street that are in worse shape than McKee’s and to date are only accessible by boat. FEMA came out at one point, McKee said, but they told her there was nothing they could do because they couldn’t walk the property. They still can’t because the home is still surrounded by water.

Now, two months after the storm, McKee still needs rubber boots to wade through water just to get to her front steps, as she tries to salvage what she can of her belongings. Unfortunately, most everything is ruined either from water damage or mold, which continues to grow and multiply inside the home. She still can’t get inside her shed to retrieve anything. She said when she tells people she still has floodwater issues they are shocked.

McKee said she has received insurance money for the loss of the home, but it doesn’t cover all her losses. In the mean time, she, her two children and two dogs are staying in a bedroom at her mother’s house.

“There’s another family living in the side apartment,” said McKee. “So, there’s seven of us living in the home.”

McKee rented a Dumpster that sits outside her flooded home for $145 and she has been filling it up with debris from inside her home as often as she is able to, but trying to cart heavy items from the home to the Dumpster through several feet of water is no easy task, she said. Once the contents are dumped and the Dumpster is returned to her it will cost another $145, she said.

Across the street, Harris said her driveway is not usable, but she has alternate ways to get in and out of her property. Her air conditioner was damaged and her house needs to be re-leveled due to settling of the ground since the storm. She also had two vehicles damaged by floodwaters, along with several other of her neighbors.

“The county is discussing an option with the city and we continue to work on that to see if we can come up with a solution,” County Administrator Randy Harris said.

104th Street 

Take a right on CR 49 off US 90 East and you will find 104th Street to the left. But you can’t go down 104th Street, at least not right now. The road was still under water Tuesday afternoon.  

Resident Trina Bard said that just hours after the Democrat visited the area and spoke with county officials on what can be done, a road grader stopped by to look at the damages.

 “I swear to you I was so happy I cried!” said Bard. 

She and other residents off 104th Street had to cut an alternate route through a corn field to get to CR 49. They said the ride through the corn field is worrisome at best.

 “We’re concerned if any emergency happened a paramedic or fire rescue couldn’t get back to us,” said Bard. “They wouldn’t be able to find us. We don’t want to be helpless.” 

She said she appreciates all the help they have received so far, including the meals and the visits by the National Guard.

 Neighbor Mike Guy said they can’t get their mail delivered and have to go to the post office to retrieve it.  Harris said that the county is aware that standing water continues to be a major problem. However, he said that water can’t be pumped to private property, which, he said, is where most of the water would have to go. As far as county maintained roads, he said if the water isn’t too deep, public works has been laying rock down in the water so vehicles are able to at least drive over the water.  

Reporter Andrew McGee contributed to this article.

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