Historic District of Downtown Punta Gorda prepares for Tropical Storm Helene

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Charlotte County locals have concerns of their own, specifically with the flooding in the Historic District of Punta Gorda.

Flooding in the historic district has plagued the community for years, rain after rain, storm after storm.

WINK News reporter Jolena Esperto was there to find out what people there are doing to prepare for Tropical Storm Helene.

They told WINK they are doing what they always do: Moving their cars to the public parking garage and moving their furniture to the upper level.

WINK News has been to the Historic District of Downtown Punta Gorda multiple times to cover the flooding, and the roads were underwater each time.

Many who live here have said this is a normal occurrence.

Dolly Street, Barry Street, the list goes on.

WINK spoke with Debbie Wilson Clay who said after 29 years living in Punta Gorda, she is used to the risk but she wishes she wasn’t.

“We the last, well, 13 months we’ve had, this will be the fourth time it’s flooded, and it’s not a flood that’s happening because it’s breaching the sea wall,” said Clay. “It’s not flooding. It’s because the storm drain was built to pump water from the bay into this neighborhood.”

And while Clay is lucky enough to say she hasn’t had water reach her house yet, not everyone is.

Several people have had to redo their homes in this area, and they do not want that to become a pattern.

One of those neighbors is Punta Gorda City Council member Donna Peterman. While some of her neighbors along Dolly Street say the solution is to fix the storm drains, she said they’re not the problem.

“I don’t agree with that. I mean, I think they can only do as much as they can do. I think the city is very aware that we need to do something, which is why we’re doing our study,” said Peterman, “and we don’t know anything until we do the study and we have the engineering and then we understand how much we’re going to have to spend.”

“You’d have to be pretty naive to think that a storm offshore here isn’t going to push water up into this harbor,” Clay said.

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