LAKE HELEN, Fla. — Flooding continues from area lakes, including around the city of Lake Helen in Volusia County.

What You Need To Know

  • Flooding continues around the city of Lake Helen, where the mayor says five lakes are now a place with over 10 so-called bodies of water

  • Bed-and-breakfast owner Hugo Hernandez has had many customers cancel due to flooded roads

  • The mayor says nothing could have been done to prevent the historic flooding

Because of the floodwaters, the mayor says what was once an area of five lakes is now a place with over 10 so-called bodies of water.

“We have had an event that is a one-thousand-year storm,” said Lake Helen mayor Vernon J. Burton. “Everyone that I spoke to that has lived in this city all of their lives, many people 80 to 90 years, they have never seen this before.”

Hugo Hernandez, owner of bed-and-breakfast Cabin on the Lake, is one of those residents still shocked over the flooding.

While the lodging establishment was on high enough ground to be protected, the surrounding roadways were not.

For Hernandez, many customers canceled their reservations.

“They were afraid to travel,” he said. “And they heard a lot of the streets were flooded.”

Hernandez says he’s remained open since the hurricanes, but getting to and from the property has been tough.

Waters have begun to recede slowly, but many spots are still underwater.

Mayor Burton adds there was nothing that could have been done to prevent the flooding.