North Fort Myers residents ask for help from county as heavy rains cause flooding

Residents across Southwest Florida were cleaning up Monday after strong storms slammed the region, leaving tree limbs down and some areas flooded.

A North Fort Myers woman said water even made it inside her Evergreen Road home.

Nicole Moore’s home was still drying out Monday afternoon.

“The whole ditch was up to our neighbor’s bushes. You couldn’t even see the concrete barrier here. It was up to the second concrete barrier. The whole front yard, it just looked like a pond.”

That water made it inside her home, something Moore said she constantly worries about.

“Any time we see on the news we’re going to get a tropical storm or days upon days of constant rain, we worry that our house is going to flood again.”

Moore called Lee County to have someone check out the drain outside her home. She said he explained everyone’s water flows toward her property, which slows the drainage in front of her home.

“Slowly but surely our driveway filled up, the street filled up with water,” said Vickie Saez, who lives around the corner from Moore.

She also wonders how the drainage system isn’t working as it should be.

“Yes, we might be in a low lying area right here, but that’s even more reason to get these ditches cleaned out and make sure the waters flow nicely during events like this,” Saez said.

While the rainy season river flows in Moore’s side yard, she’s hoping for a solution to help protect her home.

“I know we’re overwhelmed by the system, but you know it would be great if it could just move a little bit faster,” she said.

A Lee County spokesperson said the drainage basin wasn’t blocked and the rainwater drained as designed.

Statement from Lee County:

In addition to routine maintenance, DOT has received five requests in three years to conduct checks of the drainage system near the two intersections you provided. In all cases, the pipes were clear. We also checked this morning and sent a supervisor to the site. The drainage basin was not blocked. When heavy rain falls during a relatively short period of time, localized flooding occurs. In the case of the location you mentioned, the rainwater drained as designed.