JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Southbank neighborhood is one of many still dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, with still-flooded and big piles of construction debris lining the streets.
One street impacted is Huntsford Road, a street close to the St. Johns River. High tides and a recent nor’easter have made things worse for this neighborhood.
Pile after pile, the construction debris from Hurricane Irma in the neighborhood still lines the streets weeks after the storm. What mother of two Maria Bianchetta said is even worse is the flooding. A UPS truck got stuck Wednesday morning on South Hampton Road, the driver not realizing just how deep the water was.
Bianchetta said she hasn't seen flooding like this in her four years in the neighborhood.
"It's been way worse since Irma," Bianchetta said. "I stay home. We usually spend a lot of time at the park across the street but now we’re cooped up in the house because I don't want them out running around. You don't know what's floating around."
When walking through her front yard you can see tire tracks from a neighbor's cars a few houses down. Everything is flooded in that direction, so they can't pull the car out into the road. In order to get out of the neighborhood they have to go through front yards
Bianchetta said the flooding is the worst at high tide. About an hour after high tide, it had already improved, but some roads were still impassable. Bianchetta says she’s not really sure what can solve the problem.
"You don't know how high the water is going to go and by that point, it might be too late to get out and I have kids so we don't really know what to do," Bianchetta said. "She wonders if a new drainage system could help and hopes the weather will start to cooperate so she’s not forced to move her family elsewhere.
News4Jax asked the city if the drains in this area have been checked for any problems. This was the response:
“After Hurricane Irma passed through, as with any storm, the City’s Right of Way & Stormwater Maintenance Division began inspecting City-wide drainage systems to determine if there were any blockages and, if identified, the blockages were removed… This area may be experiencing the results of a continuous occurrence of extreme high-tides, given its proximity to the river.”