PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Residents in Pinellas County have been experiencing record-breaking rainfall and flooding.
It's impacting everyday activities and damaging people's vehicles.
Many people are driving through flooded roads, damaging their cars, so mechanics are now seeing more business.
"The rain comes and the next day the customers come in, whether they are towed in or driven in if they can," said Marty Myslinski, who works at a car shop called Noble Tire and Auto repair.
He said they've had a lot more business over the last few weeks.
"We're always all hands on deck, and when the floods come, everybody just do more, really," said Myslinski.
He said that in the last couple of weeks, more people have been bringing their cars in because of flood and rain damage.
"It certainly happens down here around this time of year, when the floods pop up out of nowhere. Customers a lot of time don't even realize they caused damage by running into it until they show up here," he said.
He said driving through even a foot of rain can cause car damage that could cost up to $3,000.
"Fuze boxes, anything electrical is what gets toasted, and oftentimes that's the hardest thing to see," said Myslinski.
He said even if flood water is a few inches deep, it's best to avoid that road altogether.
"Normally when you run into flood waters you don't know how deep it is…so if it feels unsafe, if it looks unsafe, it is unsafe," said Myslinski.
Carol Kingsley said her truck has rain damage, and the daily flooding is becoming a problem for drivers.
"I see cars pulling up, and you can see the driver debating on whether to pedal and go for it or not," said Kingsley.
She said it's better to be safe than sorry.
"You just need to use common sense and go around the block," she said.
A South Tampa man turned to Susan Solves It after he said ADT told him he had to keep paying for a security system at his Hurricane Helene-damaged home, even though the system was so new that he never had a day of service.
