DELTONA, Fla. — With most of Central Florida seeing a lot of heavy rains in the past couple of weeks, residents in the city of Deltona are raising concerns about ongoing flooding issues. 

Resident Anastasia Bon has lived in Deltona with her family for 11 years. On mornings like today she says she enjoys how peaceful her neighborhood is. “Nature and wildlife. That's another part of why I love it here, having the wildlife, it just makes it nicer,” Bon said.

But nature has not been very kind to Bon and her neighbors on Dorchester Drive, as they have faced issues with ongoing flooding, especially during hurricanes Ian and Nicole. 

“The first really bad flooding we had was with Hurricane Ian in 2022 and the whole street was flooded. We had to evacuate. It came all the way up to our front door and inside about 2 to 3 feet in the front. But in the back, it was all the way up and, on the sides,” Bon said.

As she goes through videos and pictures on her phone showing the flooding on her road, Bon remembers how it felt having to kayak down the road. “It was bad. It was about three months before we could get back into our homes.”

With heavy rains over the past couple of weeks, she worries about flooding. 

“I have a lot of anxiety. It really got to me with the flood, you know, we had to move out and we lost, you know, all of our stuff. You know, everyone here lost everything. It was terrible,” Bon said. “I love Deltona. It's great. It's quiet. It's a good town. But I want something to be done about this water. And it's in our driveways, in our front lawns and our driveways. A couple more days of rain and it's going to be starting to flood again.”

Just down the road from her house, it’s the Dorchester Retention pond. “The town needs to make sure that its residents are safe and that we don't have to worry about the flooding and the damage from the flooding,” Bon said.

When the pond gets full the city drains the water to neighboring lakes – but she worries that’s not enough. 

“As you can see, the water, it's starting to (gather) again in our driveways and on the street. And it's dried up a little bit today. But another, you know, few inches of rain and it'll start to flood again. And that's what I’m worried about,” Bon said.

We reached out to the city of Deltona to ask about what measures it is taking to mitigate flooding issues. 

“We continue to monitor lake levels throughout all basins in Deltona along with known areas with flooding issues in the past. We are deploying portable pumps around the city for future pumping and are working to get authorization for pumping activities from the regulatory agency,” Public Works Director Glenn Whitcomb said in an email.

Whitcomb also mentioned that Deltona, like much of the area, has seen recent heavy rains, but because of the proactive measures taken by staff there have been no reported street flooding or water entering homes. He said the city is working to clean debris from drainage areas including storm grates and drainage ditches.

As Bon considers her options, she says her family doesn’t want to have to move away from Deltona, but she hopes the city takes action addressing the flooding issues. “I hope that something's done so that it doesn't happen again.”

The City of Deltona Public Works Department ordered a detailed drainage study of the Theresa Basin. According to Whitcomb, the flood control study is underway.

“We held a public meeting to get information and concerns from the residents that live around the basin. The consultant is continuing to gather information for the modeling purposes of the project,” he said.