Wakulla Gardens neighbors concerned about floods; how the county is responding

• Neighbors say their yards have flooded in Wakulla Gardens after rain storms.
• Some have expressed concerns about the septic-to-sewer project happening in the Wakulla Gardens neighborhood.
• Watch the video to find out what neighbors are saying and how county leaders are taking action.

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:

“The destruction that’s going on right now is just too much”

I’m Kenzie Krueger in Crawfordville, and I’ve been keeping up with this project since the beginning. Now I’m hearing from concerned neighbors.

“I’ve never had it flood here in all the years I’ve been here and people who’ve lived here 20 years or even since the 80s say it’s never flooded like this I’ve never seen it.”

Matthew Trenary lives in Wakulla Gardens and says when the project started his entire yard has been flooded. This was his yard after it rained. The project is designed to remove all wastewater discharges from running off into the Wakulla Springs Basin.

Now the construction has neighbors concerned about their homes.

“I have to where sandals on wear shirts, waddle through the water and get in the truck.”

When I asked the county about the concerns neighbors shared with they responded saying

"The Wakulla Gardens Phase 3 project is currently 95% complete. The contractor is actively grading lime rock in preparation for paving. Initially, we anticipated being about two weeks away from completion; however, recent excessive rainfall has delayed this timeline.

In addition, Wakulla Gardens Phase 4 is approximately 50% complete, with an estimated six months remaining until the project is finished. Magnolia Gardens Phase 4 and Wakulla Gardens Phase 6 are both around 20% complete, with an estimated nine to ten months left until completion.

County leadership is actively meeting with the engineers and contractors to address issues related to excessive rainfall affecting project areas."

But for some neighbors living in the Gardens believe something needs to be done before the flooding gets worse. “He needs to fix it instead of telling all of us I’m two weeks we’re gonna do this and we’re gonna do that, it’s not helping us.”

Leah Shealey lives in the gardens with her mom and says they worry their home will flood during the rainy season.

“The other day when we had a rain it was only a 20 minute rain, but it came in through the back patio and the water leaked into our garage about 5 feet and 4 inches deep and it almost made it through the front door.”

Shealey says she’s reported these concerns since the start of the project. “I’ve sent pictures and I got in touch with you. We’re trying to do everything we can to do this the right way in the correct way.”

Both neighbors just want to see it get fixed.

“I don’t know how they intend on repairing it I just hope they can repair it.”

Neighbors say they’re continuing to contact county leaders about this in hopes for a quicker solution.