JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After days of rain, people who live on some dirt roads in Jacksonville, said their streets are impassable for cars too low to the ground.
One of those streets is Pemberton which is off Beach Boulevard, not far from Kernan Boulevard South.
“In certain parts, you need a kayak to get out of here,” Joanie Deal said. “Cars have been stalled out.”
Deal has lived on the street for six years and said this is the worst she’s ever seen.
Friday morning, while News4JAX was out speaking with Deal, we noticed a Black Honda driving down Pemberton Street, headed towards Beach Boulevard.
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A few seconds later, that vehicle came to a stop and the driver started reversing, then made a right turn onto another street.
They did that, to avoid driving through standing water.
“When it gets raining like this my car, I can’t get out in my car,” Deal said, as she was commenting on not driving her car through the water. “I have to use my husband’s four-wheel drive.”
Deal said other low cars like hers have been stalled in these waters.
“I pulled a person out from trying to drive right up close to his brick wall there,” Toby Molasso said.
Molasso is Deal’s husband and has lived on that street for 30 years.
He said since the rain started Wednesday, he has helped pull 10 people’s cars out from the water.
Toby said in the future, he would like to see help from the city to address problems on the street with flooding.
Molasso and Deal know it would be expensive to get the roads paved since they are owned by the residents, but they would want drains installed.
News4JAX reached out to the city asking about getting drains installed on the road, and at the time of this publication, we hadn’t heard back.
Deal added that besides the water being a hassle to drive through, it’s also creating another problem.
“As it sits here, it gets stinky,” Deal said. “It gets stagnant. It breeds mosquitoes.“