‘Is it ever going to end?’: Hillsborough County homes still in floodwater

SEFFNER, Fla. (WFLA) — For many, Hurricane Milton is long gone, but one neighborhood in Seffner is still inundated with water.

That’s when they reached out to 8 On Your Side wondering, when is this water going to drain out?

“This right here is not going away quick,” Maria West said. “This will probably be here another week or two.”

For this neighborhood north of Interstate 4, it’s heartbreaking.

Many of these families have been here for decades.

“My father built this house in 1965, so I’ve been here since 1965,” West said.

“Is it ever going to end?” West said.

Neighbors took 8 On Your Side on a ride on a Jon boat through what used to be where they’d mow their grass. We could see cars with water almost to the top of their tires.

Randy Meeks said he’s lived in the area for 42 years and never saw anything like it before.

“It has came high, but nothing like this,” Meeks said. “Nothing like this.”

“I mean, it was touching them walls, [and] it was in their yard,” he said. “Nothing like this.”

Meeks wants to know, why after all this time, did the water rise so high?

“If they don’t keep the arteries clean, we’re going to flood,” he said. “It’s just like a heart, if you don’t keep your arteries clean, you’re going to die.”

“That’s what we’re doing, we’re dying,” he said.

News Channel 8 went to the county for answers.

Hillsborough County’s Director of Engineering & Operations Josh Bellotti sent the following statement to 8 On Your Side:

“We still have not yet had the ability to begin pumping operations in many Hillsborough County neighborhoods because there is not yet a downstream place to pump. With the historic rainfall amounts of 10-15 inches,  the Hillsborough River reached the highest level ever recorded and has been in a major flood stage since last week. Until this system has a chance to recover we don’t have the ability to pump water into it. Please know that we are closely and carefully monitoring these conditions, and are ready to deploy and initiate pumping operations as soon as conditions allow.”

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