Neighbors in Zephyrhills community dealing with flooding concerns for weeks

Flooding frustration in Silver Oaks community

Aaron Mesmer reports

ZEPHYRHILLS, Fla. - Weeks of flooding in a Zephyrhills community have neighbors wondering when the water will finally drain.

According to homeowners in the Silver Oaks neighborhood, water started rising in the adjacent golf course when Debby passed off the Tampa Bay coast. It hadn't completely drained when Zephyrhills received four and a half inches of rain in 90 minutes last week.

"We had four and a half inches over the course of 90 minutes, heavy rainfall, intense rainfall," said Kevin Weiss, a spokesperson for the City of Zephyrhills. "There's not really a stormwater system out there that can handle that amount of rain at once."

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Silver Oaks is among the communities where the water still has not drained. Crews from the city and Pasco County installed temporary water pumps and barriers to try to protect against future potential floods.

Weiss said this area hasn't seen flooding this bad since 2004.

"Part of the issue is where are you going to put the water, because you don't want to flood somewhere else out," he said.

Neighbors wondered whether years of residential developments have contributed to the drainage issues.

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"That's a Band-Aid on the problem," Silver Oaks resident Crista Larkin said of the pumps and barriers. "How are they going to make sure that the drain is sufficient, where this is not going to continue to flood properties like this?"

Weiss told FOX 13 it's unclear whether developments made the situation worse at Silver Oaks. Prior to the recent rains, the city passed a moratorium on large residential developments to make sure infrastructure is able to keep up with growth.

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