ORANGE CITY, Fla. — While Volusia County crews are actively working to restore access to flooded roads, many are more concerned with high water that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.

“If they don’t fill my driveway in, I can’t get on top of that road. So, it helps everybody to the west of me, but it doesn’t help me,” said David Musser, a Volusia County resident that lives near Miller Road and Shady Lane, and next to a lake called Miller Lake.

Musser believes nothing is being done to alleviate the situation, adding that it may be getting worse due to a pipe connected to neighboring Orange City.

“Across the street ... there’s a drainage system that has a valve that’s open and they’re not pumping it, but they’re letting it naturally drain into this already disaster zone.”

Other residents believe that same story.

“The first thing I want to see is somebody shut off that valve where the water is coming from, or a good part of it, because it’s illegal to pump your problems into somebody else’s backyard,” said Antony Frank, another Volusia County resident.

Benjamin Bartlett, Volusia County’s public works director, says no one is pumping water into Miller Lake. 

He understands the frustrations residents have, and the top priority remains getting road access back.

He adds the water level has stabilized and the next steps are to monitor lake levels and evaluate potential options should conditions change. 

Dale Arrington, city manager for Orange City, says a city investigation saw no “pumping and discharging” into Miller Lake.

“Orange City has continued to perform emergency calls under our closest unit response policy and we have listened to and investigated area resident’s allegations that the City of Orange City is pumping and discharging into Miller Lake (we are not),” said Arrington in a statement. “We have also performed door-to-door field surveys of Orange City businesses that the residents think may be pumping to their lake and can find no evidence of such.”

For now, residents deal with what they can as they hope things get better. 

“The water is not going to go anywhere fast. It may drop a quarter inch a day, but how many days and months do you have to go through until you get to the point where you’re back to normal?” Musser said. 

Volusia County reiterates they will remain in communication with residents in the area.