New St. Cloud development sees flooding problems and homeowners fear more floods with heavy rain

ST.CLOUD, Fla. — People living in the Tohoqua Reserve community in St. Cloud fear their forever homes could flood if they continue to see drainage issues.

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Richard Bulfair, who lives in the community, said as Central Florida heads into hurricane season heavy rain would make the road impassable for other homeowners.

The community is a 55+ community and homeowners feel first responders would be hindered to saving lives if they are slowed down because of a flooded road.

Saturday, heavy downpours forced some owners to abandon their vehicles in the middle of the neighborhood because of the rising waters.

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Bulfair said Saturday’s rainfall was the 6th time the neighborhood flooded since he moved there.

“When they built the homes across the street, they used to block these so that dirt won’t go down the storm drains. It flooded the same way now that they removed it, and it’s still flooding the same way. So it’s something else going on?,” said Bulfair.

Channel 9 visited the neighborhood Sunday during light rain, within an hour the waters started to rise in driveways because of the clogged storm drains, and even catfish could be seen swimming along the sidewalk.

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Channel 9 reached out to the developers of the community PulteGroup Inc. about the ongoing issue. A representative from the company said it was the first time hearing about the problem.

PulteGroup Inc. said the environmental protection cover is blocking the water from draining. This would not be an issue in a post-development state as those socks would be gone permanently.

The company said it is in a phase with active developments. Today [Sunday] nobody is working on the environmental sock inlets [that are] required by the government to be put in place on a building site when work is not being done. This is to keep items from entering the storm drains and cover the drains in the road to keep the water from draining and we are required to leave the socks in the drain coverings for Environmental rules.

Channel 9 was told a crew would go to the problem area to rectify the issue. The city of St. Cloud said it also would look into the problem.

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