Cars stranded in Pine Hills flooding

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - At noon Wednesday, a Toyota sat stranded in the of a residential road off of Powers. The owner had returned and was waiting for a tow truck to pick it up. The Toyota's engine is water logged, the rear floorboard covered in 3 inches of standing water.  

One street over, a husband and wife spent much of the day cleaning up their own mess.  Their yard filled with debris, a waterline in their garage shows how high close the flooding was to getting into the house.  

"I couldn't even walk out to the actual street, couldn't see the sidewalk, the first house on the street here, you couldn't even see their driveway," said Brittney who lives off of Powers.

Powers Drive near Silver Star Road flooded last night.  Two cars got completely stuck in the water, the occupants rescued by the fire department.  Several other cars also got stuck but pushed their cars out of the water before they got stuck.  

"They need to do something because this is ridiculous," said Maddy Same.  

She was soaking wet and fired up when she spoke with The News Station.  Se and her son unknowingly drove right into the worst of the flood waters.  

"Water started flooding into the car so I had to roll down the window, jump out the window jump into the water that came up to my waist," said Same.  

Orange County Commissioner Victoria Siplin came out to take a look at the aftermath Wednesday afternoon.  "We've been dealing with this flooding issue since July 30th," said Commissioner Siplin.   

According to the Orange County's chief engineer of roads and drainage, rainwater from this area drains into Silver Star Lake, a privately maintained lake that has not been maintained.  It's at flood stage and back flowing onto the lowest point of Powers Drive.  

Crews spent Wednesday trying to get that lake level down.  Commissioner Siplin says that's a temporary fix.  The permanent solution is not going to happen immediately. But, what I can tell you is that we are working on a permanent solution with a consultant."

County officials say OCSO deputies will be keeping an eye on Powers Drive and ready to shut the road down if it starts flooding again.