Newly built Lakewood Ranch neighborhood trapped by flooded streets after Debby

Neighbors in Manatee County trapped by high water

Dozens of homes in Lakewood Ranch had water up to their doorsteps – some even into their homes – after Debby brought heavy rain to Manatee County.

LAKEWOOD RANCH, Fla. - After Tropical Storm Debby, flooding has led to street closures all over Manatee County. One neighborhood in Lakewood Ranch, "Star Farms," had a few feet of unexpected flooding, with water flowing up driveways and in some instances, into homes.

"Clearly, this shouldn't have happened. I mean, it was absolutely insane for the storm we had," one resident said.

Lakewood Ranch neighborhood sees flooding, rescues

FOX 13's Kellie Cowan reports from a Lakewood Ranch neighborhood that was battered by heavy rain and flooding from Hurricane Debby.

Dustin Coleman explained it is a new development, and they hoped it was built with enough room above sea level.

READ: Pinellas Hope Homeless Shelter sees extensive damages after Debby brushes by Bay Area

"We were on and off up all night from like 1:45 a.m. on about every 30 minutes, and the waters kept coming up and coming up and coming up almost to our doorstep," Coleman said.

Another resident saw fish in the street, and a car floating down the road on Monday morning.

"I opened the front door and take a look around and I go, 'oh yeah, I'm not going anywhere today.' There's no way. And there was a car floating down the road earlier, probably about 6:45 or so," said resident Chris Mcintosh.

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Dozens of people are now stuck, their cars and homes narrowly escaping the floodwaters for what could be a few more days.

"A lot of my neighbors have. They called 311. We're asking for assistance on being able to get some drainage. Like we can't even go to work right now," said Coleman.

Manatee County Emergency Management officials told FOX 13 that they are working quickly on getting help to those stuck.

MORE: St. Pete assessing damage from Debby, from flooding to downed trees

"We're doing missions reconnaissance throughout the county. We're starting a damage assessment to make sure what areas we need to hit. We actually have made sure we put missions in through division of emergency management, to see if we can get tools and access to help the communities get relief from some of that water," said Matt Myers with Manatee County Emergency Management. "What we want you to make sure you don't do is drive around in that flooded water. There's a lot of stuff that could go wrong. A couple of feet of water moving fast, even if you can't see it, can really do a lot of damage. It can be deadly."

Officials in Manatee said they received 4-16 inches of rain throughout the county.

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Hurricane Debby Manatee County