People in the Royal Woods community in Fort Myers are preparing for this weekend's storms. They said water pours in from other communities during severe storms, leaving them with the worst of the flooding.
“We are the lowest point in Island Park, so basically, all the neighborhoods drain into our neighborhood, and our houses take the hit from it,” said Taryn Landy, who lives in Royal Woods.
Landy put out sandbags last weekend when Hurricane Helene rolled through, but she’s leaving them up this weekend, too.
The community's HOA president, David Winfield, said he's been trying for months to find a solution for the flooding.
“Our problem is everybody else's water that comes in here. I've addressed this with the county to clean out the ditches and the canal because one of the flood engineers suggested that that might be a problem,” Winfield said.
During Hurricane Helene, Winfield said he pumped the community retention pond, which stopped the water from going into people's homes, but the county told him pumping comes with a $10,000 fine, even though he paid them $4,000 for a pumping permit.
“I'm left with no other options. I either pay illegally, pump and pay the $10,000 fine, or I flood my community again, which is unacceptable,” Winfield said.
Winfield said it's going to be a long and expensive process, but the only solution engineers have told him is to build a berm to control the flooding.
We’ve reached out to Lee County to ask about the potential fine and if they’re looking into any solutions.