Broken berm causes flooding in Cape Coral neighborhood

A swamp. That’s the best way to describe Crystal McClaran’s backyard after Tropical Storm Debby.

“We got I think six inches of rain here locally,” said McClaran. “I didn’t notice a huge problem until this morning when I went out in my driveway and my side dog yard. The water was actually flowing kind of like a stream.”

A stream that flows directly from a breached berm into McClaran’s backyard on El Dorado Boulevard.

“There’s no end to it,” said McClaran. “That amount of water, it’s lakes back there, flooding for miles and miles and miles.”

McClaran lives right by the Yucca Pens Preserve, which is filled with wetlands.

The berm in question is meant to keep water from flooding into McClaran and her neighbor’s properties.

When Irma hit, McClaran said she had no problem: the berm did its job.

But for about four years, a portion of it has been broken.

“The water has nowhere else to go, and it just comes out and on my property,” explained McClaran.

That constant flow is what made Hurricane Ian a nightmare.

“The water came up about three feet into the whole home,” said McClaran. “The (large) amount of damage was done because not only did the water come in, but it ran for probably about four days like a river coming through my house, downhill.” 

Though Debby didn’t cause the water to reach crystal’s home this time, it brought up some scary memories for McClaran.

“This morning it was kind of like PTSD from Ian, like, oh my gosh, how long is it going to be again before this water starts coming into my house?”

For now, McClaran and her neighbor put up a temporary fix: a berm of their own created with some dirt. While it did help stop the water this time, it isn’t a permanent fix.

“It’s only about a foot and a half high,” said McClaran. “But it’s enough for this storm, if we get another major hurricane, I’m going to be in the same position that I was before.”

McClaran told WINK the berm was breached by a neighbor’s ATV.

WINK News reached out to a spokesperson with the City of Cape Coral to try to find out who is responsible for the upkeep of this berm and what can be done to fix it.

The spokesperson responded saying it is working on getting an answer about the berm’s jurisdiction and will get back to WINK soon.