Neighborhood near Lehigh Acres still flooded, leaving residents stuck

Following the impact of Tropical Storm Debby, one neighborhood near Lehigh Acres remains blocked by murky brown flood water.

WINK News reporter Maddie Herron spoke to the neighbors of the Wildcat Drive community who said that some people haven’t left the neighborhood in four or five days.

Some neighbors also said that the flooding is typical for the rainy season on the street.

With feet-deep flood water blocking the path, only a lucky few can get in or out of this mess.

“I’m stuck at home, I’m not even trying this,” said one resident.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office called the road “impassable,” deploying their swamp buggy to help any neighbors that may need help in the flooding left over by Debby.

“I want you to take a look at some of these water levels. As you can see it is barely touching my ankles, but I only need to take a few big steps forward… And the water is basically at my knees, my feet are sinking in,” explained Herron. “Now, imagine if this was your car trying to make its way down the road. There are a lot worse conditions all the way down there, but even just here it is pretty dangerous.”

The water levels are so high in some spots that some people can’t get past their doorstep.

With a souped-up truck from his infrastructure job, Sean Burlarley said he is one of the few who can make the trek … barely.

“Lack of maintenance is really what we got here. There’s no drainage, so the water can’t get anywhere,” said Burlarley.

WINK News is asking what the next step is to deal with all this water that neighbors say just sits here until drying up on its own.

Although LCSO was out here helping, they told WINK it was only as an emergency response, and that the county’s Department of Natural Resources is in charge.

WINK News has reached out to that department and will update you with the latest.