St. Pete community's retention pond seeps into homes during Hurricane Milton

Retention pond floods St. Pete neighborhood

Neighbors in a St. Petersburg community were caught off guard when heavy rain from Hurricane Milton caused a retention pond to overflow. Residents say they don't have flood insurance because they don't live in a flood zone.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Some neighbors in a St. Petersburg community were caught off guard when a retention pond flooded, and several feet of water seeped into homes during Hurricane Milton.

Residents said they weren’t expecting to see flowing water pass by their front door.

"I came out about 1 a.m., and I was like, ‘Why are there waves on the road?’ I shined a light, and I was like, man, and then it kept coming up and up and up," said Daryl Mosher, a St. Pete resident who lives in the North Kenwood neighborhood impacted.

READ: Hurricane Milton aftermath: Crane collapse, Tropicana's torn roof among damages in St. Pete

Water from the 29th Street north retention pond rose fast, flowing into cars and homes. Some neighbors said about four feet of water came into their houses.

"In front of my house it was about a foot deep," said Mosher. "And the whole back alley, the dumpsters were floating, and there’s trash everywhere."

Milton dumped 18 inches of rain in 24 hours, and the city of St. Petersburg said the water became too much for the pump.

"Of course, you know we didn’t know there was a short in the pump. But it has never flooded here at all," said Shellee Wileman, a St. Pete resident.

MORE: All St. Petersburg sewer treatment plants back online after Hurricane Milton

Some homeowners said the watermark lines from damage could’ve been avoided.

"If it’s a short with the pump, the city needs to have a backup. There needs to be an overflow," said Jenica Ellenberger, a St. Pete resident.

After the storm, some people returned to check on their homes, seeing the water damage from the retention pond for the first time. Shellee Wileman and her husband spent Thursday ripping up their floors and drying furniture.

"It’s hard, because you’re in a non-evacuation zone, you’re not in a flood zone, we don’t have flood insurance and our house floods. It’s like, how does that happen?" said Wileman.

READ: Over 500 rescued from flooded Clearwater apartment complex

She’s not alone. Several neighbors said they don’t have flood insurance, because their neighborhood sits in a low-risk flood area. Jenica Ellenberger’s family is now stuck with the results of two to three feet of water on their property.

"We’ve got a Chevelle, a 1970-something Chevelle that’s totaled and just other stuff that we can’t get to right now because one you don’t have electric to see, and you have no room to put it," said Ellenberger.

Neighbors said they’re dealing with it all without power as Milton took out hundreds of thousands of customers in Pinellas County. They said they’ll be filing claims, cleaning up and hoping for the best.

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