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Polk residents near Lake Bonny bring concerns to city meeting on Hurricane Milton flooding

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Published  November 6, 2024 9:53pm EST
Lakeland
FOX 13 News

Flooding frustrations near Lake Bonny

Jordan Bowen reports

LAKELAND, Fla. - Residents who live along Lake Bonny said they're fed up. Many homes were surrounded by floodwaters for as long as a month. Wednesday night, the city commission held a special meeting to address the concerns of residents.

One by one, residents took to the podium at the Lakeland City Commission meeting Wednesday night with posters and pictures showing the devastation in their homes. They feel it could have all been prevented had the city taken the appropriate actions before Hurricane Milton hit.

"Water from the lake was actually starting to build out way back during the summertime, and they gave statistics tonight to kind of support some of that. There were calls that were made to the city to ask what's being done? This is not how it should be," resident Janis Wooten Morsey said.

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But, residents said their calls went unanswered. Then came Hurricane Milton and several feet of water, which sat for weeks. Roads finally became drivable days ago. 

Residents have now learned the pump which they were told was working was actually clogged with debris, and while it was still working it was pumping out at a much slower pace.

Last month, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers delivered two water pumps to help with the problem. Residents feel had the city been proactive about checking their pumps, some of the devastation could have been avoided.

"They were not proactive. We don't believe that pump was being checked the way that they say it was. Should they have done that? Yes, absolutely. Could that have been a proactive step as far as keeping those water levels down or at least getting on top of it sooner rather than waiting until Milton came, and now we're all underwater," Morsey said.

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Some families have lost everything and are now living in hotels, still waiting for aid from FEMA. Many feel the city needs to do more to help residents struggling financially.

"They need to get us dumpsters. They need to get us more cleanup, because our neighbors are putting stuff on the street. It's just sitting there getting nastier and nastier, like we need something for them to start giving us some kind of support," Ramirez said.

Going forward, the city said in order to help they will continue pumping until the water levels go back to normal. They said they'll be monitoring and discharging these 24/7. They also said they are going to continue ongoing discussions with FEMA, the county and SWFWMD to alleviate flooding at Lake Bonny.

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