WILDWOOD, Fla. — Wildwood staff have pumped water out of a retention pond that overflowed during Hurricane Debby, flooding homes, hoping to avoid a repeat during Hurricane Helene.
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The Woodlane Meadows community does not have a history of flooding, but neighbors say a parcel across the street developed into a big box store and a parking lot that sends water toward their homes.
Some homes had several inches of water during an otherwise minimal storm for Central Florida.
Read: Hurricane Helene forms, forecast to strengthen into Cat. 4
“My neighbor here, we were having a discussion, like, we need to do something about it,” Jazz Burns said.
Burns approached the city and helped crews install the pump to drain the area. It remained in place as Helene approached the Sunshine State.
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He said he’s hoping for a more permanent solution to come to his community in time for the next storm.
“The engineering wasn’t done correctly,” Burns said. “Unfortunately, the city signed off on it, and now they’re trying to figure out how they can fix it.”
Read: New to Florida? 9 helpful tips to get you through a hurricane
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