LAKELAND, Fla. — Families in Polk County want to know why they're still flooded in the neighborhoods surrounding Lake Bonny weeks after Hurricane Milton devastated the region. They held a community meeting on Sunday afternoon to put together an action plan.
Frustrated citizens brought their concerns to Lakeland Commissioner Mike Musick.
“I know that what we're saying is this is a rain that hasn't happened ever, this is a 500 or a thousand-year storm, but we need to make sure that we're ready for that next one. Right now, we're not and it's evident,” Musick said.
It's been almost two weeks since Hurricane Milton.
“My husband's wheelchair is underwater, his scooter is underwater, his oxygen machine is covered in mold now. We escaped through the window Wednesday night walking through water that was up to our thighs,” Nicki Ramirez, who lives near Lake Bonny said.
Water is still making its way into businesses and homes. The City of Lakeland said since August it's been using a pump to push 5,000 gallons of water per minute from Lake Bonny to Lake Parker.
“If the city had been doing what the city claims they had been doing and pumping this water. Even if it had been running at 20 percent and had been running since August 5th we still would've avoided this,” Chad Smith who lives on Lake Bonny said.
Smith believes if more was done by the city to protect his home, he wouldn’t have lost everything.
“My house is everything. That is my sanctuary. That is my life,” Smith said.
Neighbors are hoping to get answers as to why this happened at city and county commission meetings this week.