Alachua County failed its residents after flooding from Elsa, Erma
My wife and I were traumatized when Tropical Storm Elsa hit Gainesville on July 7. Our home on Northwest 39th Avenue was destroyed by that storm!
The storm flooded our home with over four feet of water inside the main part of the home. Our garage and my office, which are about 18 inches lower than the main part of our home, had over five feet of water. Everything in our home was a total loss as well and both of our cars and everything in our garden shed.
My wife Pam and I, and our two Great Pyrenees dogs, made it out of our home with the help of the Alachua County Fire Rescue and sheriff's deputies We were escorted out by two large deputies (one holding each of our arms) so that we didn't fall in the chest-high-deep water. Our two Great Pyrenees dogs swam out on leash with another deputy, and they were taken to be boarded at the Pet Paradise dog kennel in Newberry.
Pam and I stayed at a local hotel nearby for the first couple of nights and then went to live at Pam's sister's home, just north of Ocala. After staying with family for the first two months, we then started playing musical motel rooms, moving between Gainesville and Ocala.
All motel rooms in Gainesville were booked up for the Gator home games, requiring us to go down to Ocala to spend Friday and Saturday nights. We would then return to Gainesville to spend Sundays through Thursdays so that we could try to salvage some of our personal belongings from our flooded home.
This flood was our second one in four years. The previous time, Erma flooded both our garage and my office, and destroyed both of our cars, along with everything electronic inside both places. We restored both rooms, and replaced the first three feet of walls and the carpet in my office. We also replaced our upright freezer, washing machine and dryer.
We had lived in this home for 13 years before we had this first flood, and we thought that that flood was all we would suffer. The neighbors said that flooding was unheard of in our neighborhood as long as they had lived here, some more than 24 years.
The area wasn’t listed as a flood zone. Alachua County staff claimed that it was a 100-year flood. The county engineer came by and saw the water at six feet at the back of our property and, when I asked, said it was an act of God.
Larry Croy column from 2018:Tax money should fund flood prevention
We joined a group of people from other flooded residences who went to the County Commission meetings at that time to ask for help. We talked with the manager of the county roads department, asking for help by their making improvements to the ditches along Northwest 39th Avenue, as well as finding solutions to prevent another flood to these homes that were flooded.
Finally, three years later, the roads department came by and dug the ditch on my side of 39th Avenue down about 18 inches. They did nothing to the north side of the road. This left that property higher that the road itself with nothing to stop the rainwater from flowing south across 39th Avenue. Three months later, Clay Electric came along and installed a new power pole in front of our home at our drive, destroying most of the ditch on our side of the street with their heavy trucks.
When Elsa hit, water flooded across 39th like a river from the north side into three other homes and ours on the south side of 39th and 136th Street. This last flood did so much damage that my wife and I will not try to restore our home again and will try to sell it as-is.
Two floods in four years have sickened us about the people in management of Alachua County, so we are moving back into the Gainesville city limits. At least the city seems to be trying to maintain its streets and ditches.
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