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Hillsborough County homeowners concerned next storm will cause more flooding

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Published  September 7, 2024 6:16pm EDT
Hillsborough County
FOX 13 News

Flooding concerns in Hillsborough County

Jordan Bowen reports.

ADAMSVILLE, Fla. - Some residents in south Hillsborough County say Tropical Storm Debby brought flooding like they’ve never seen before.

Some homeowners lost everything and are now concerned about the next storm.

Up to four feet of floodwaters made it into Brittany Vanvaerenbergh's home. It destroyed nearly everything inside. For the last few weeks they’ve been making repairs, ripping out the floors and dry wall.

READ: Mote Marine documents impacts from Debby on Sarasota Bay

"We have really just gutted everything we could that would hold water. And then, as far as the yard, we really haven't touched too much. We've just been focused on the animals getting their enclosures back up together and running," Vanvaerenbergh said.

Vanvaerenbergh has a small zoo with several dozen animals, all of which were safely evacuated during the storm. Vanvaerenbergh’s home backs up to a creek where she says the depth is usually at least five feet lower. She’s lived in the area of Hillsborough County near Adamsville her entire life and says she’s never seen it flood this bad.

"We lived here during Irma. Irma was about eight inches of water throughout the whole house. This was four feet throughout the whole house and less water," Vanvaerenbergh said.

Some residents worry development in the area has happened too fast and, as a result, the water doesn’t have anywhere to go.

"In past years, it hasn’t been this bad, but it keeps getting deeper and deeper every year," Hillsborough County resident Richard Connolly said.

Meanwhile, Vanvaerenbergh says she’s hoping something can be done at the county level to alleviate the flooding before the next big storm hits.

"We clearly can't live like this every rainstorm, you know, begging that it's not in our house," Vanvaerenbergh said.

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