LAKELAND, Fla. — Almost four months have passed since Hurricane Milton — since devastating flooding partially submerged dozens of homes along Lake Bonny in Lakeland.
Yet four months later, homeowners like Misty Wells are still living through Milton daily.
“We are backs against the wall and have no idea what direction to go now,” she said.
Though her home is now dry, it’s still in deep disrepair.
Its foundation is sinking and cracking, which is damage she says FEMA can’t cover.
“A FEMA manager actually hugged me and cried because she felt so bad that she cannot help us,” Wells said.
On nearby Little Lake Bonny, Nicole Aldahonda-Ramirez is in a similar hell. She, too, doesn’t have the money or help to rebuild her home.
“The funding that I got from FEMA for the house alone was only $10,900,” she said.
Monday morning, she attended a Lakeland City Commission meeting to make her feelings and desperate situation known to city leaders.
She pleaded for the city to expedite a study to figure out why Lake Bonny flooded and asked the city to help flood victims financially.
“It’s just not fair that you guys aren’t doing anything for us,” Aldahonda-Ramirez said.
But the response she got gave her no reason to hope or think she or other homeowners will be back in their homes anytime soon.
“We gave it a great deal of thought and must [rely] on existing FEMA grants and insurance provisions at the State and Federal levels,” Lakeland Mayor Bill Mutz told us in a statement. “An act of God event like this has never occurred…as 25 inches of water accompanied those rains in two weeks. We have no additional City resources to allocate for the Lake Bonny damage or for the many other homeowners and businesses throughout the City that also sustained similar water damage due to flooding conditions.
Mutz said the city has asked for the study of recent flooding to be expedited.
As City Manager Shawn Sherrouse explained in the Monday meeting, the study is examining flooding along Lake Bonny and the entire watershed. It will take approximately four to six months to complete. It began almost two months ago.
Sherrouse also said the pump that controls Lake Bonny’s water level is working and is maintained. He said the city recently drained the culvert that runs between Lake Bonny and Lake Parker and discovered no obstructions.
Regardless, homeowners like Aldahonda-Ramirez worry they will flood again because the lake level is still higher than it has been in the past.
Wells, meanwhile, is living in a camper parked in the driveway of her still-damaged home.
Though the home is now gutted, she cannot begin repairs until the foundation is fixed.
In the meantime, she’s sharing the relatively small camper with her husband, teenage daughter, two dogs, and two cats.
“Now, we’re just hoping for a miracle,” she said.
"IT JUST CONTINUES TO GET WORSE EVERY DAY."
The Tarpon Springs home has been involved in a years-long code enforcement case, but the debris has only increased after Hurricane Helene and Milton, according to outraged neighbors.
