Deltona residents alarmed by holes forming after flooding from Hurricane Ian

Demie Johnson
·2 min read
306

Flooding continues to cause problems for people across Central Florida.

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In Deltona, two large holes have formed- one on a road, and another in a person’s yard.

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The city closed Salem Drive in the Hidden Lake Estates area Friday morning.

Residents there say they’re confused about what’s going on. They say they can’t tell just how big the holes are because water keeps rising over them.

“Who knows? Who knows what it is honestly,” neighbor Tracy Barbour asked. “They told us it was a sinkhole.”

Barbour says she’s been watching the hole in her yard grow larger each day. She says the Deltona Department of Public Works called it a sinkhole. When Channel 9 asked, a city representative first said they weren’t sure what it was because it’s on private property.

Barbour says city staff came to see it after she called and put cones up several days later.

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That same city representative later said a storm water pipe failed and it couldn’t be repaired until the water lowers.

However, the yard isn’t Barbour’s only concern. Her mother-in-law Marilyn Barbour lives right next door. The section of Salem Road in front of her home is now closed.

The city is calling that anomaly a “depression.” City leaders say they temporarily repaired it with what they called a cold patch.

“You can see it cracking and water coming up through the road,” Marilyn Barbour said.

The Barbours say they’re worried that if the water doesn’t go down fast, they’re going to have a much larger issue.

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“They were just out here and they said the drains are flowing, and I said, ‘yeah, it’s flowing into my back patio now,’ which is my living room just about,” Barbour said.

The city says they’re not officially referring to either hole as a “sinkhole” at this time.

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