LAKELAND, Fla. — Neighbors in Lakeland are stuck with flooded homes and say a construction company and the city left them with nowhere to turn.
10 Tampa Bay was the first to report on issues at Magnolia Pointe Condos when they flooded on Friday for the second time in two weeks.
"It's unpleasant and uncomfortable. It's obviously discombobulated. I have some equipment on there and I'll be bringing a dehumidifier in here this evening," John Connors said.
Connors has lived in his condo since 2005 and says nothing like this has happened before. He says the change comes after new homes started being built a few feet above them.
"Our lives have changed here every single time it rains, we panic and we all look out our back door. We all look at each other and wonder if it's going to be a torrent again," Connors said.
After the flooding Friday, Connors says the construction company brought out another engineer to try and fix the drainage issues. Sandbags now line the barrier they created with neighbors' homes left uninhabitable.
"It's tough when you've worked so hard to have all of your stuff, and then someone comes to do this construction and not take the proper precautions," Zelma Meza Flores said after her entire home was full of water.
She's one of many in these condos that blame Rodda Construction and the city of Lakeland for not making sure they would be taken care of while construction was done.
"They already damaged five homes. How many more times are they going to do that before it becomes cost-inefficient for them?" Connors said.
The condo owners tell us management and their lawyer met with Rodda Construction and the city Monday. We reached out to both and haven't heard back yet. For now, neighbors are trying to find places to stay and get their homes back to normal.