BRANDON, Fla. — A Brandon neighborhood is under nearly four feet of water with no sign of relief.
This is a situation neighbors said, regardless of Hurricane Milton, could have been avoided because they’re not in a flood plain.
At night it’s tough to see the full extent of the damage, but you will have no problem seeing how much water has flooded Oak Ridge Drive in Brandon.
Those who live in the neighborhood said they’ve had some water pile up before but never to this extent.
“This has been my home since 1972. My mom bought this when I was obviously 13 years old,” Mark Guthrie said.
In all that time Guthrie said he has never seen flooding quite like the aftermath of Hurricane Milton. It makes the walk towards his home all the more difficult as it is still partly underwater.
“The water was this deep and it was coming in the back of the house,” Guthrie said.
Now, Guthrie and his neighbors are left under feet of water, which is partly from Hurricane Milton, and partly from a water main break the day after the hurricane.
There’s currently no timeline on when this flooding in their Brandon area homes in east Hillsborough County will be addressed.
They’ve even placed a brick on the street to see if the water is receding.
“I don’t know if there’s any good words to describe what it’s like. The water is everywhere,” Jason Carty said.
Carty and Keith Deming said this flooding is unprecedented.
“Most of us bought in here because it’s not in a flood zone. It’s in a flood zone X,” Demming said.
It’s why this reality feels so frustrating. Some neighbors believe this situation could have been avoided.
“There’s a problem with the storm drain and the retention pond culvert over here and I know the county has done their work on it. CSX [Rail] tends to have to be reminded quite often on how to clean their window to clean their culvert out,” Carty said.
Hillsborough County Public Works Director of Engineering & Operations Josh Bellotti released the following statement to 10 Tampa Bay.
“We still have not yet had the ability to begin pumping operations in many Hillsborough County neighborhoods because there is not yet a downstream place to pump. With the historic rainfall amounts of 10-15 inches, the Hillsborough River reached the highest level ever recorded and has been in a major flood stage since last week. Until this system has a chance to recover we don’t have the ability to pump water into it. Please know that we are closely and carefully monitoring these conditions, and are ready to deploy and initiate pumping operations as soon as conditions allow.”
We also reached out to CSX rail, who we are told owns the ditch that flooded as a result of not being cleaned out regularly. When we receive an answer, we will update you on air and online.