Gotha residents fed up with flooding, sue Orange County

GOTHA, Fla. - Gotha neighbors are suing Orange County over a flooding issue in the neighborhood.

Last rainy season, overflowing Lake Nally inundated the area. Some neighbors were even forced out of their homes after water got inside and caused black mold.

The lawsuits claim multiple entities have contributed to the flooding. Paul and Stacey Dehart filed just one of several lawsuits against Orange County, the Florida Department of Transportation, Central Florida Expressway Authority, and a nearby housing development.

“It’s not really something that we wanted to do. We spent the last year hoping it could be informally resolved,” said Paul. “We waited for the county to do their report and their study, with hopes they would actually do something at the conclusion of that.

”He referred to a study Orange County did last year, which concluded an unusual amount of rainfall caused the flooding. County leaders said because Lake Nally is a private lake, the issue was out of their hands. Although we’re aware that a lawsuit has been filed, our office has not been served with the lawsuit yet. Therefore, we have no comment,” said the County Attorney’s Office in a statement.

However, neighbors believe other factors like the construction of a neighboring housing development and construction of the nearby Turnpike also played a role.

“We’ve got our experts looking at things as well. We have our beliefs as to what’s happened out here. Where we differ [from the county] is I don’t think it’s just the rainy season that’s caused this. I think it’s a bigger issue.”

The neighbors say they simply want a solution to the ongoing problem.

“We have to get a hold on development and making sure we don’t impact surrounding areas when we expand and build. I think we’ve fallen victim to some of that,” said Stacey. “And we deserve protection.” 

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