TAMPA, Fla. — Residents near Palmetto Street in Tampa are frustrated.
“We’re having increased flooding,” said Maria Castillo, president of the MacFarlane Park Neighborhood Association and Crime Watch.
Neighbors told ABC Action news that the flooding has progressively gotten worse.
“It is very scary when you see just water up to your home,” said Castillo.
“This entire street has ditches. They’ve always had ditches,” she added.
Castillo has lived on Palmetto Street for 40 years.
“My parents have lived on it for 60 some years, and throughout the years, people have begun to close the ditches for more parking,” said Castillo.
Neighbors said it wasn’t a problem until recent years.
“Typically, the ditches on the north side of the road connect to the south side, and they just flood up into everybody’s lawns right here,” said concerned resident John Howe.
The city does periodically come out to maintain the ditches that they’re able to.
“Thus far, it’s just been band-aid fixes just by them digging deeper trenches,” said Howe.
However, neighbors said it’s not working because nothing changes when it rains.
“We know these are going to flood again,” said Castillo.
“Digging the ditches deeper did not help. We basically made a bigger hole that now has more water in it,” she added.
That’s not the only issue. There’s a city-owned vacant lot across the street from Castillo’s house she said is adding to the flooding.
“When it rains heavily or even just a mild rain but a few days in a row, it will have water I mean all the way backed up to the fence, it touches their home, it does go all over into this driveway and then it does start to come over the street,” said Castillo.
The recent heavy rains haven’t helped.
“That was not an isolated incident. It’s continuing to happen,” said Castillo.
On top of that, this community is concerned about safety when the ditches food.
“You cannot tell where the street starts and where the ditch starts,” said Castillo.
Howe has seen accident after accident outside of his home.
“I’ve seen numerous cars actually flip over into that ditch. So instead of them actually fixing it, when they dig it deeper, it’s just a deeper hole for cars to actually flip over and roll into,” said Howe.
“My greatest fear is like having it roll over its side where people can’t get out,” he added.
“I just really want my voice to be heard that digging the ditches is not the solution,” said Castillo.
Howe said people have fallen into the ditches too.
“They’re trying to dodge cars, and there’s no place for them to go,” he added.
ABC Action News reached out to city leaders to get answers.
The city funded a project to make improvements to Glen Avenue, which is perpendicular to Palmetto Street. There are also plans to fix stormwater issues and add safety upgrades, like a sidewalk. Construction is scheduled to begin in early 2023.
In terms of the flooding ditches and issues with the vacant lot on Palmetto, leaders said the Glen Avenue project was the priority.
Engineers told ABC Action News that these issues are more complex, but they are aware of them and are looking into ways to fix them.
Neighbors just hope that a fix comes sooner rather than later.
“We still have a couple months of hurricane season, so clearly this block cannot hold the water, so we need to figure something out,” said Castillo.
