Skyline Boulevard neighbors say Cape Coral drainage gets worse each year

CAPE CORAL, Fla. (WINK) — Heavy rain flooded parts of the Skyline Boulevard area Monday, forcing some neighbors to drive through parking lots just to get home.

The water has since receded, but neighbors say it can take hours before some of these low-lying areas are completely clear. And that's creating a problem that goes beyond just getting from point A to point B.

"It's gotta go in the sewer right?" said Shelley Kervel, a neighbor.

Kervel has lived in the area since 2003. She says when the rain came down hard Monday, a short drive home turned into a detour through four different parking lots.

"The drainage here is awful," Kervel said. "The smell after the drainage is absolutely repugnant. It is just it's it's gotten worse and worse every single year."

"We could not get out on the access road behind Skyline," Kervel said. "We could not get out on Skyline. Everything was under water."

RELATED: Cape Coral flooding forces neighbors to find new routes after heavy rain

Even after the rain stopped, the water didn't.

"I went back out about an hour after it stopped raining, and just across the street to my mailbox, it was above my ankle still, so at least four to five inches," Kervel said.

For Lee Paulmier, who has lived in Cape Coral for 30 years, the water is also becoming a business problem. He runs a lawn service, but when water is sitting in swales and on properties, there's no easy way to get the job done.

"I've seen it, I seen it, water up to my front door from Skyline," Paulmier said. "The whole like a whole half a mile has flooded."

Now, he says he's having to make a choice.

"Skipping lawns or skipping parts of lawns," Paulmier said.

For these neighbors, the water may be gone, but the question they're left with is where that water will go the next time it rains. WINK News reached out to the city asking if they are aware of the issue and what the next steps are.