Neighbors face roadblocks on Wildcat Drive

A community is reaching its breaking point after flooding left several people stuck inside their homes for hours.

People in the Wildcat Drive community near Lehigh Acres told WINK News they want the Lee County Board of County Commissioners to step in. However, Lee County can’t because the road is private.

But if a little over 50% of the community agrees to a tax, work can be done. Now, they’re running into another roadblock.

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• READ MORE: Wildcat Drive has more problems than just flooding
• READ MORE: Lee County’s response to Wildcat Drive’s flooding problem
• READ MORE: Lee County neighborhood still flooded, leaving residents stuck

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Wildcat Drive is notoriously wet on days after heavy rain. The further down the road, the worse the flooding gets.

“You don’t want to go back there,” said resident Maxwell Lee.

So many neighbors are trapped inside their homes from this flood water because they can’t get their cars through.

Puddles are really deceiving. WINK News reporter Maddie Heron stood in calf-deep water and, after taking a few large steps forward, the water reached her thighs.

This is a problem for so many people in this community who can’t get their cars on the road or onto State Road 82.

Not everyone has a suped-up truck like Sean Burlarley; he let WINK News hitch a ride to see the flooding firsthand.

“There’s still dangerous places to traverse here because, as you’ve seen, they kind of just drop off, right?” said Burlarley.

Burlarley said this community looks out for one another, stopping to help neighbors who are struggling just to get down their street.

“I’m just worried about if we can get to the house, and then every time we get out of the house if you are just thinking about, like, if we got to get stuck,” said neighbor Josue Cruz.

One woman WINK spoke to over the phone has spent the past few days helping her high-risk neighbors.

“We’ve been in touch with every resource we can think of,” she said.

The county said people living along Wildcat Drive can work together to fix and maintain this road.

“The community would have to come together. It’s a voting petition. I guess 51% of the landowners out here would have to sign that they wanted the county to come in and maintain the road and the ditches,” said the neighbor.

Neighbors would have to go through several steps before the county can take over maintenance of the road.

“I think we need to find all these people, get them together in one room and get this vote. Because if you live here, you’re going to vote for it,” said Burlarley.

Lehigh Acres Fire said their units do daily drive-bys for this area after major rain hits, and their brush truck units can access these homes.

But neighbors WINK spoke to are still wary the flooding could halt emergency response times.

There is still a lot of work to be done to reach a better road. What will the community choose to do? We will have to wait and see.