Iona apartments deal with nuisance floodwater; residents have difficulty leaving home

Dozens of people became stuck in their apartments after Elsa left floodwater behind. The only way anyone can get out of their homes is if they don’t mind risking damage to their car engines.

Flooding was at least ankle-deep in the parking lot of a couple apartment complexes in the Iona area of Lee County Wednesday after Elsa brought heavy rain to them overnight.

People we spoke to say the neighborhood floods all the time. An entire street was submerged, keeping hundreds of people in their apartments.

Brave drivers who couldn’t afford to stay home took a ride through the water.

Kevin Munley decided the risk wasn’t worth it.

“I lost money, but whatever. If you’re going to lose money, you might as well kayak around the neighborhood,” Munley said. “Even if you have a big truck, you’re going to ruin the starter on your truck trying to drive through all this, and the speakers in your truck, so you’re landlocked. Your day is over.”

The driver of a mail truck found that out trying to drive through the water.

Water covers Dublin Circle, the main way in and out of both the Sanibel Way and Casa Bella communities.

“We’re used to this,” said Diane House, the president of the Cas Bella condo association. “This isn’t a first time, and this isn’t because of a hurricane. When it rains hard, we get the same thing happening. And it’s really bad for the residents the people that live all the way around here.”

House told us it has been a safety concern.

“It’s going to take a couple of days, so you can even see the road there,” House said. “Then, it will probably take another three days after that to get the ditches that really start going down.”

Neighbors hope the flooding is because the heavy rain came during high tide. Maybe that means it will recede more quickly.