ZEPHYRHILLS, Fla. — Jenna Crosley’s front and back yards are both great spots for birdwatching. There are ibises, egrets, and dozens of ducks.
The only problem? Her Zephyrhills home isn’t adjacent to a nature preserve. Instead, an overflowing holding pond has turned her yard into a swampy mess popular with wading birds.
“Don’t even get me started,” Crosley’s mother, Barbara Redmann, said through tears. “I swear, I can’t even think about it. It’s just awful.”
The holding pond beside Crosley’s home on 9th Ave. belongs to the City of Zephyrhills.
“I’d like to have them purchase that house from me and turn that into a retention pond because if it keeps filling up, year after year, it’s not just going to be my house affected,” Crosley said.
However, she said the city has done little to fix to fix the problem, even after the pond badly overflowed during Hurricane Milton, putting feet of water in her home.
“Had to put life vests on my dogs to get ‘em out of the house, and the water was up to our waist,” she remembered.
The house is now dry, but portions of her yard are not. To make matters worse, the floodwater is full of duck excrement, bird feathers, fertilizer, and pollen.
“And it’s disgusting. It makes my backyard completely unusable. And makes my front yard completely unusable,” Crosley said.
It’s put her in a tough spot. Should she even rebuild? Should she hire an attorney? Or sell the home and take a huge loss?
“I can’t sell it. Who am I going to sell a flooded home to knowing it’s going to flood again next year?” she said.
What can she do to get her yards back? Right now, she’s without answers.
A spokesperson for the City of Zephyrhills said city staff is aware of the problem since it has been reported to the city multiple times.
However, there is currently no fix for the flooding.
“The issue is due to the high water table and the lowest elevation in the area. Pumping would not resolve the issue. Pumping has already been attempted, and the water seeped up through the ground,” the city spokesperson wrote in a statement to ABC Action News. “It’s in a flood zone, according to the FEMA floodplain maps.”
A frustrated Zephyrhills homeowner still has flooded yard months after Hurricane Milton.
