LAND O' LAKES, Fla. — Pasco County Public Works hosted a meeting on Tuesday night to hear from residents who flooded during Hurricanes Milton and Helene.
The county is in the process of updating its Stormwater Master Plan.
The purpose of updating the master plan is to protect life and property against the threat of regional and local flooding, comply with regulatory requirements, achieve infrastructure resiliency and meet objectives of the FEMA Community Rating System.
Jason Mickel, Director of Public Works, said the last time the county updated its Stormwater Master Plan was nearly a decade ago.
The county hosted two past meetings on April 16 and 23, 2024, and another on March 25, 2025.
"We had two public meetings prior to this one before the actual storms hit, so we want to make sure we're capturing some of the input from our residents post-storm so that we can get some of the feedback on some of the things they faced," said Mickel.
Laurie Roberts lives off Pasco County Road 583. She said the hurricanes damaged a culvert near her home. It has not been fixed.
"I've had to actually go buy a pump and with hoses and physically pump water off my property," said Roberts.
Other homeowners said they could not get in and out of their neighborhoods after flooding from the hurricanes.
"Most of the streets were flooded. Some of them got about 3/4 of the way up the driveway. We had one pond that got to about four inches from a lanai and seeped in," said Steve Wertovitch, who lives in Trinity.
The county said two future meetings tentatively will be held on June 3 and June 10.
In July, Pasco County Public Works plans to give a final plan to county commissioners for approval.
"Our goal with our Stormwater Master Plan is to identify 15 top projects that we want to address immediately, so we’ll spread those projects out throughout the entire county. They’ll be top priority projects for us to address, stormwater issues, mainly flooding on the areas we can improve the community," said Mickel.
For more information on the Stormwater Master Plan, visit here.
After a spike in local cases, veterinarian Dr. Melanie Bizzarro is warning pet owners about a bacterial infection called leptospirosis.
