Ian is long gone but water keeps rising in central Florida

GENEVA, Fla. (AP) — Residents in central Florida donned fishing waders, boots and bug spray and canoed or kayaked to their properties on streets the place floodwaters continued rising Sunday regardless of it being 4 days since Hurricane Ian tore by way of the state.

The waters flooded properties and streets that had been satisfactory only a day or two earlier.

Ben Bertat discovered 4 inches (10 centimeters) of water in his home by Lake Harney off North Jungle Avenue in a rural a part of Seminole County, north of Orlando, after kayaking to it Sunday morning. Solely a day earlier, there had been no water.

“I believe it’s going to worsen as a result of all of this water has to get to the lake” stated Bertat, pointing to the water flooding the highway. “With floor saturation, all this swamp is full and it simply can’t take any extra water. It doesn’t appear to be it’s getting any decrease.”

Gabriel Madling kayaked by way of 3 toes (1 meter) of water on his avenue, delivering sandbags to stave off water that was 2 inches (5 centimeters) from coming into his residence.

“My house is near underwater,” Madling stated Sunday morning earlier than paddling to his home. “Proper now, I’m simply going to sandbag as a lot as I can and hope and pray.”

Two hours later, his home nonetheless was not flooded, and he was retrieving extra sandbags to cowl the again aspect of the home.

“We are going to see what occurs,” he stated.

Madling’s avenue was in a flood zone and a lot of the residents with mortgages on the road of about 30 homes had flood insurance coverage, however a number of of the residents who had lived there for many years didn’t, Madling stated.

Seminole County officers warned residents this weekend that flooding might proceed for a number of days, notably in areas close to the St. Johns River and its tributaries, and stated 1,200 residents have been affected by the flooding or different harm from Ian.

“Even because the rain has stopped, we nonetheless have the chance for extra flooding,” Alan Harris, director of Seminole’s workplace for emergency administration, stated at a information briefing.

Tara Casel has by no means seen flooding on her avenue close to Lake Harney like she did Sunday morning, regardless of dwelling by way of a number of hurricanes. She and her husband used a canoe to get to their home and feared it might have water.

“We had been right here final night time and it was fairly unhealthy,” she stated. “However this morning appears to be like worse.”

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Comply with Mike Schneider on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP.