Sanford flooding to peak Sunday as business sinks again

Lake Monroe’s waters overtopped the seawall again, forcing the closure of Seminole Boulevard along the Sanford waterfront in the wake of Hurricane Milton.

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City staff set up a Tiger Dam to keep access to the marina open. It’s easier to maintain than the method they tried after Hurricane Ian, when mounds of dirt were dumped at certain intersections to raise the street level.

With the dams, traffic flowed in and out of the marina normally, but one business owner said the flooding wasn’t the only problem she encountered.

The St. John’s Rivership, which offers cruises complete with lunch and a themed show, was forced to dock early Thursday due to the rough conditions.

The ship is now too large to fit under the bridges at the ends of the lake because of the elevated water level. A “no wake zone” prevents it from traveling more than one mile per hour, making the ship difficult to steer.

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Strong winds Thursday also bumped passengers around.

“It’s kind of hard for us to not cause a wake,” Captain Austin Hopkins said. “I think we learned today where it’s that’s going to be a really tough thing for us… We’re going to need to have a little bit more speed to control the boat, steering-wise.”

Owner Michelle Wyatt said she was working with passengers to make the experience as convenient and comfortable as possible. She said despite the conditions, she still had 70 guests booked for Thursday’s cruise.

“The captain made the rightful decision,” she said in her interview before the ship returned. “We sat on the lake, finished serving everyone their meal, and then they’re bringing them back now, where they’ll finish serving dockside.”

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It was, perhaps, more comfortable on the ship than on the flooded Seminole Boulevard, where Wyatt said her staff reported seeing a gator swimming down the road Wednesday.

Overall, a sense of fatigue was setting in, she said.

“We saw Debbie at the beginning of August. We saw Helene, and now we’ve seen Milton,” Wyatt recalled. “I’m ready for it to be over.”

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