Buckingham landowners battle flooding, blame new construction

Landowners are battling flooding, and they believe new construction caused it.

Fox 4’s Austin Schargorodski went there after a man called him because water got in his yard and garage. Now, he and his neighbors are working to find a solution.

Golf cart tires sloshed though inches of standing water in Tim O’Hara’s yard, despite not seeing rain for days.

Austin Schargorodski

O’Hara is from Connecticut - he’s lived here part-time for four years and said he’s loved every second…up until now.

“My property - it’s a swamp right now. You can’t go outside because it’s full of mosquitoes and it stinks,” said O’Hara.

Austin Schargorodski

O’Hara isn’t the only one dealing with this.

Michelle Sullivan lives next door in Buckingham and said the flooding is affecting her horses.

“My poor horses are standing in water, which is not healthy for their feet. They start to get foot rot and it’s painful for them,” said Sullivan.

Michelle Sullivan

They say the water used to run out through a ditch until the construction blocked it off. Sullivan believes they have property rights to prevent this, so they complained to Lee County.

O’Hara said Lee County sent an inspector, who determined the contractor did nothing wrong and that the former property owner had illegally dug the drainage ditch.

Austin Schargorodski

“His feeling on this was to build a bigger berm so the water wouldn’t come on my property. That’s not a way to fix things, that only creates a problem for someone else,” said O’Hara.

The neighbors want the water to flow as it used to, so they turned to the South Florida Water Management District for help. An agent confirmed that the developer meets all de-watering requirements.

Austin Schargorodski

A Lee County spokesperson said this situation is a civil matter between property owners. So, the engineer of the development will work with the property owners to find a solution.

“Not looking to cause problems, just looking for some help,” said Sullivan.

Austin Schargorodski

“I’d just like to get this figured out, get my lot dried out, and move on with life,” said O’Hara.