Hurricane Ian: Concerns about Orlo Vista, other flooding-prone areas

As Hurricane Ian approaches, residents of Orlo Vista are taking precautions, as the flooding during Hurricane Irma in 2017 remains fresh in their minds.

That year, Calvin Williams, who’s lived in a house on the corner of Ronnie Circle and Livingston Street since 1989, remembers the water rising to at least above his knees.

Like last time, he laid sandbags in front of the doors of his home and dug trenches in the driveway. Despite the preparations, he’s not worried about the coming storm.

“It might come or not, but either way you can’t stop it,” Williams said. “I don’t worry about nothing. I put my faith in God.”

With Hurricane Ian shifting its path eastward and expected to bring a deluge across Central Florida, concerns are rising that flooding-prone areas could again get more rainfall than they can handle.

During a Tuesday meeting of the Orange County Commission, Orlo Vista was a subject of discussion — with the community’s district representative, Commissioner Victoria Siplin, suggesting that evacuations may be wise.

The working-class neighborhood about five miles west of downtown Orlando was overwhelmed by floodwaters in September 2017 when Irma blew through Central Florida, dumping nearly 10 inches of rain on the community in a span of a day. About 500 homes were evacuated.

“I’m really concerned with my folks in Orlo Vista,” Siplin said. “You know, when Irma hit, they were not prepared to deal with the rainfall we received. And so I think, even though we’re doing what we can, we have to be realistic. I think at some point, we should tell folks in certain areas that they have to evacuate.”

Joe Kunkel, Orange County’s public works, acknowledged Orlo Vista was one of the county’s “hotspots” for flooding that could be tested by Ian.

“In regards to the amount of rain that comes in, if we get into that 10- and 11-inch rainfall event, that is problematic for Orlo Vista,” he said. “If we’re under that amount, then we would be full but, hopefully, [water will not get] up into the residences like it did during [Hurricane] Irma.”

The community south of Pine Hills suffered massive damage due to flooding during Hurricane Donna in 1960. Between that storm and Irma five years ago, the county expanded ponds, dug canals and added pumps but was unable to avoid a repeat.

Kunkel said the county in advance of Ian has “continually been pumping” water away from the area to increase rainfall capacity, including in Westside Manor, a neighborhood that has flooded before.

“There’s other areas as well, either in some of the chain of lakes where we have opportunities to allow those lakes to draw down,” he said. “We’ve been doing those over the last week or so, coordinating that activity with the water management district.”

Kunkel said the county also has portable pumps to keep water away from homes.

“We have about 20 larger pumps of higher capacity and, I think, another 50 or so smaller pumps that we can locate in various areas. Some of them have already been staged,” he said, naming an area around Powers Drive and Silver Star Road in Pine Hills that is prone to flooding.

Other portable pumps are being used to lower water levels in lakes.

Siplin said she feared those efforts would not be enough.

“I know that we’re lowering our lake levels, but we have certain areas in our community that we know are prone to flooding,” she said. “We know that our system can take between six to eight inches of rainfall. We’re looking now at what? Eleven to 14 inches. We know there will be local flooding.”

Residents in the neighborhood on Tuesday said they were staying updated with forecasts. But few said they had plans to leave.

“We’ll see what happens,” Maya Douglas said. “But this is my home.”

Orlo Vista is far from alone among local areas of concern. Jeff Charles, a project manager with Orange County’s stormwater division, said earlier this week that crews had been inspecting pump stations as well as 95 miles of canals and 74 wells that drain excess water into underground aquifers.

County governments throughout the region and state have been distributing sandbags for the last several days — and, in some cases, running out early as residents flock to shovel sand that could provide a protective barrier from rising waters.

Residents of the Spring Oaks neighborhood in Altamonte Springs spent Tuesday packing sandbags along the sides of their homes and hoping their community will not flood as it did during Hurricane Irma.

“It was so bad. … It was so scary,” said Claudia Castro, recalling how the rising stormwaters closed Little Wekiva Road in front of her home in 2017.

“I’m hoping it won’t be as bad as it was then,” Castro said as she helped her son place sandbags along their garage door.

Many of the homes in Springs Oaks sit alongside the southern portion of the Little Wekiva River. During a heavy rain event, the river’s waters will rise quickly and spill over into residents’ backyards.

That’s coupled with stormwater flowing downhill into their street and into their front yards, creating a double nightmare.

For days after Hurricane Irma passed through Central Florida, Little Wekiva Road had several inches of standing rainwater. Residents would use canoes to travel out of their homes.

“Water would get up to our waists in some places,” said Stephanie Mitchell as she helped her husband, Scott, place sandbags along their garage and side doors. From their backyard, one could see the Little Wekiva River flowing northward.

Staff writer Jeff Weiner contributed.