Orlo Vista residents say Orange dropped ball on pumping pond
Orlo Vista residents on Wednesday accused Orange County officials of failing to pump enough water out of the retention pond that flooded their neighborhood during Hurricane Irma.
County officials insisted they did everything they could to prevent the flooding. Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs said Tuesday the county was investigating.
More than 200 residents had to be evacuated Monday morning in Orlo Vista as waters rose from Lake Venus, a retention pond next to State Road 408 on the community’s north border.
On Wednesday, residents slowly trickled back into the neighborhood about four miles west of downtown Orlando, cleaning up the damage to their homes and piling up destroyed furniture and electronics at the curb.
Keyshawn Eads’ family home sat on a spit of land between two parts of the lake, just next to the gate to the county property.
“Orange County said it drained the lake, but this is something I see every day, and I’d have noticed it if they came,” Eads said. “If they did drain it, nothing happened. Here, we have it on both sides. Water was coming in left and right.”
Diane Scott, who lives on Ronnie Court, the street that encircles part of the lake, said, “The pumps must have shut down. … This is the first and only flood I’ve ever had. I’ve been here since ’97. I’ve rode out every storm. I even rode out [2004’s Hurricane] Charley. I’ve never even had to get a sandbag.”
Jeff Charles, drainage coordinator at Orange County Public Works, said the lake was drained five days before the storm and pumped as low as possible.
“In addition, it was pumped every day it rained in that area after the lake was pumped,” county spokeswoman Doreen Overstreet said. “The pump did not fail.”
The county had also upgraded from a diesel pump to more reliable electrical pump with an emergency generator sometime in the past 25 years, Overstreet said, though she did not say exactly when.
Scott, whose car was lifted onto the curb and pushed into a fence by the force of the flooding, said the water destroyed almost everything in her one-story home, “all the clothes, the shoes, the TV, the phones, everything.”
Her car insurance company helped with a replacement for their car, but as for everything else, “I couldn’t even get flood insurance. This is not a flood area.”
One block farther up from the lake, on Hope Circle, Eton Williams said the water was deep enough for a boat to sail down the entire street.
“The water didn’t have any place to go,” he said. “Now they’re draining [it]. But I think they’re doing it too late. The damage is already done.”
A number of the evacuees moved to the lone shelter left open in Orange County, at Bellhaven Park, were Orlo Vista residents. On Wednesday, children from the area were able to eat about 300 prepared meals at the Orla Vista Elementary School, thanks to the Orange County school district.
Lori Gilbert, senior director of the district’s Food and Nutrition program, said they would determine whether there was enough food left over from shelters to feed children today and Friday.