HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Michele Martin is in a tough spot.
“We just say we’re camping right now,” she said.
She told people she’s camping because she’s currently living in a tent ever since her home along the Alafia River near Lithia flooded in Hurricane Milton’s aftermath.
“I was devastated,” she said. “Very devastated.”
Like others who suffered similar flooding in the area, Martin has been pointing fingers at the Edward Medard Reservoir, which is upstream from her home.
Water was released from the reservoir and its dam before and during the storm.
In a meeting Thursday, homeowners like Martin expressed their collective frustration as the Southwest Florida Water Management District tried to set the record straight and defend the steps they took at Medard Reservoir.
As Jerry Mallams, the Operations Bureau Chief for SWFWMD, explained, the district tried to release water from the reservoir before Hurricane Milton hit, but it only helped so much.
He said the proactive measure wasn’t enough to stop the flooding caused by an unexpected amount of rainfall in a short amount of time.
“The time Milton happened, after our rainy season, is the worst time for an event like that because then the majority of the water that hit the ground during Milton ran off,” he said.
He said Medard Reservoir isn’t designed to control flooding in the area, but what it ultimately released during Milton was just a fraction of the water that flowed into the Alafia River.
Martin isn’t convinced.
“We usually don’t get flooded like that, but when they open up the dam and let that water out, it just flooded everybody,” she said. “It just swooped in so fast that we had no time to get out.”
She thinks there should be structural changes at the reservoir and wants better communication the next time water is released from it.
According to SWFWMD staffers at the meeting, alerts were sent out through social media and through email during Milton, but as some homeowners pointed out, it was hard to receive those communications when the signal was poor in the storm’s aftermath.
Lashelle Liptrot's Nissan Murano is more than a mode of transportation. It's been the shelter keeping her and her children safe. She's part of the countless number of people now homeless because of Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
