Palm Coast isn’t the only area seeing a flooding issue. Flagler Beach residents are suffering from many of the same issues that Palm Coast residents are facing. The addition of new homes being developed is causing older and existing homes to see flooding issues on their property’s.
One Flagler Beach resident, Kristina Joy Proto, sat down with us to discuss the progression of the flooding issues she has at her residence in Flagler Beach. Her home was built in 1992, and she bought the residence in 2017. Many of the lots when she purchased were undeveloped when she purchased her home. As lots were purchased and construction was started, Kristina instantly started seeing more and more standing water on her property, even during normal rain events.
Kristina explained that Flagler Beach does have restrictions on the heights of lots, however she stated that it is evident that these are not being enforced, as many homes are built significantly higher than other homes. Kristina and her family run pumps to clear water from their property in order to attempt to keep water from standing on their property and potentially damaging her home. She has reached out to multiple city officials, city staff, including Dale Martin, regarding what to do to fix this issues.
Kristina continued on explaining that unlike Palm Coast, her side of Daytona Ave, does not have a swale or even a storm drain; the opposite side of the street has a drain that is currently filled with sludge and the water does not drain. She questioned where the $13.50 for a stormwater fee goes, when there is currently no where for storm water to go in her neighborhood. Many of the new lots developed have had large amounts fill added to raise their ground level, causing many of the existing homes to see water draining from the new lots to theirs. One home has their gutters pointed directly at Kristina’s property.
To date Kristina has said that no one has provided her with any feasible solutions to this problem. Kristina has already spent over $3,000 to grade her yard and add fill in an effort to fix the problem but she had to follow the Flagler Beach rules as to how much fill she was allowed to add in. After the project was completed she saw no difference in the amount of flooding she sees during any rain event. She continued to state that this water does not just sit on her yard for just a day or two, but for weeks at a time.
Kristina stated that she doesn’t expect her yard to remain 100% dry all of the time, she expects small amounts of puddles and water in her yard after a rain event, acknowledging the fact that she understands this area is a swamp, and that some degree of water is normal.
