JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – More than 48 hours after Tropical Storm Debby hit Jacksonville, residents in the Maxville neighborhood on the Westside are still dealing with stagnant flood waters.
McClellan Road is the only way in or out of the area for hundreds of residents. It’s been flooded since Monday.
“My husband left to go to work and had to come back and get our truck because he couldn’t pass it with a car,” Shanna Gardner said, who lives nearby and uses McClellan Road daily. “We have a literal river running through our property.”
The constant drainage issues are a big concern for Gardner whose property and animals are threatened by the rising waters. She has donkeys, horses, and goats living on the land.
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“So every big storm, the retention ponds in the neighborhoods overflow, and we all experience flooding,” Gardner said. “It’s dry now, but our almost entire property was underwater, because water comes from across the street, and it all flows through here, our street floods, McClelland floods, basically the whole area just floods”
Her animals’ safety is part of the reason why Gardner is speaking up. She’s written to the Jacksonville City Council to address her concerns. She said as more homes are built in the area the problem has gotten worse year after year.
“I don’t know what their plans are, but it just kind of keeps seeming that nothing changes, and they’re just building more and more and more and more,” Gardner said. “They need to do a central drainage system that adequately collects all the water and gets rid of it.”
News4JAX reached out to Council President Randy White to ask what’s being done to address the drainage issues in his district. White said he’s heard concerns from constituents and is working with public works to address the problem.
Debby was not a very powerful storm, so neighbors want to see something change soon before a major hurricane has the chance to destroy McClellan Road.