PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — Dorena Lemus and her husband didn’t know they were buying a lake house when they moved to Pasco County a few years ago, but after Hurricane Milton, that’s what their home off Fort King Rd. near Dade City became.
“It hit on a Wednesday, and all this flooding came in Friday evening, and within four days, it was up to our house,” she said.
Luckily, their house was okay, but part of their yard, driveway, and the road that leads to their home are all still underwater.
“If we had a frickin’ fire or a medical emergency, they could not get to us,” she exclaimed. “They could not get to us.”
For months, to access their home, the couple has had to cut through a generous neighbor’s backyard.
Cousins Lucy Hernandez and Paula Chacon have had to do the same because much of their nearby property is also still flooded.
“How much of this water should be here?” ABC Action News asked them.
“None,” Chacon said. “Because all this was just pasture.”
The neighbors reached out to Tampa Bay Tonight after seeing previous coverage of flooding from just a few miles away near Zephyrhills.
There, off Phelps Road, another rural neighborhood also remains flooded, including the home of Matthew Johnson.
“And it’s made me cry,” Johnson told us Wednesday.
Just like Johnson told us, the homeowners near Dade City said Pasco County was pumping water from their flooded subdivision, but that relief suddenly stopped in December.
“I have just called and complained to the county, you know, and nobody listens. I’m sorry. I’m just frustrated,” Lemus said.
In an email to ABC Action News, a Pasco County spokesperson said the state-owned pumps were relocated outside the county back in early December, which is why the pumping stopped.
The spokesperson said that since the water is on private property, the county cannot pump any more of it.
Pasco County said homeowners should follow-up with FEMA, however, neighbors like Hernandez feel they’re getting the runaround.
“We’re really afraid,” she said. “That’s just causing a lot of strain on the family too — financially, you know, and emotionally.”
"I’ve gotten exhausted from FEMA. We’re 62 and 72 years old, and we’re on Social Security/Disability. What the hell does this country want from us?”
John King shared with ABC Action News the flooding in his Zephyrhills community - more than 3 months after Hurricane Milton.
