Titusville residents still affected by last week's flash floods: 'Drain system inadequate'

TITUSVILLE, Fla. - One week after flash floods hit Titusville — leaving many homes and roads flooded — the city 

The backstory:

On Oct. 26, flash floods and nearly 20 inches of rain soaked the Space Coast. Motorists were stranded, and homes flooded. For a week, several roads were closed due to flooding. Pumps were installed all over town, and residents were trying to rebuild. 

The Salvation Army and Red Cross mobilized to help people affected, and the city even declared a state of emergency. People say the rainstorm was worse than a hurricane, and many are still dealing with damages.

What we know:

Parkland Street had feet of standing water on it after the storm. 

A lift station broke, so the city brought portable pumps. 

Neighbors were trapped for days inside flooded homes. The water’s receding but not fast enough. 

The canal on the street is still full, and water’s stagnant in areas. Residents are worried the water won’t go anywhere since pumps on Dairy Road were already removed. Clean-up crews were on site to help homeowners on Monday start the rebuild process, and people are hoping FEMA will kick in to help. As of now, county leaders say the storm doesn’t qualify for federal help.

What is Titusville doing about flooding? 

At the last city council meeting after the flooding, city leaders talked extensively about the flooding problem. It came to light the city hadn’t updated stormwater management plans since 1966.

"We need a complete overhaul, go back to the drawing board – to make sure what happened – even though it was a 1 in 500 year storm - doesn’t happen again," said Titusville Mayor Andrew Connors said. 
 

The council voted to have staff look into major upgrades and preventative measures they can put in to prevent another tragic situation in the future.

What are residents' saying? 

Homeowners are concerned about what happened, saying they had no time to prepare and don’t trust the infrastructure to hold out during storms.

"Your drain system is inadequate. It’s not properly maintained. There’s vegetation that blocks the water from going through the culverts and everything. This is not proper. It’s not maintained properly," said Mike Decker, who’s still dealing with flooding, said. 

 "We have pieces of furniture that were handed down from generation to generation that were just destroyed with floodwaters that can’t be restored," another homeowner, Dawn Blinson, whose home flooded, said. 

"The infrastructure has got to get better or this is going to keep happening," said Chris Blinson.