SARASOTA, Fla. (WFLA) — Floodwater from Hurricane Debby started rising in the neighborhood on Monday.
People who live there said the water was still rising on Tuesday.
‘I was in tears’: Sarasota veterans therapy center looks to rebuild after flooding from Hurricane Debby Streets and homes were flooded and a number of cars are stranded by the rising water. Many homeowners were not able to get their vehicles out in time because they say the water came up so quickly and many of their cars are now under water.
Tuesday, neighbors volunteered to help each other by loading sandbags with dirt that someone donated.
They said the county refused to bring sandbags despite repeated calls for help.
Mike Vance was a firefighter in another county. He was helping to load sandbags for his neighbors, even though his home has more than six inches of water inside.
Vance said his neighborhood has never flooded for 20 years, until now.
“There’s been big hurricanes, even Ian never got this much water up to our house,” Vance said.
He said no one in the neighborhood was prepared for this.
“This is not a flood zone, never was, and what is sad is that no one bought flood insurance because we never had to,” Vance said.
Jeffrey Schermerhorn used a military surplus Humvee that he bought last year to evacuate neighbors on Monday that were trapped in their home by the rising water.
Tuesday, he brought his wife to their home so she could see the damage for the first time.
“Yea, it’s really bad, and it shouldn’t have happened,” Tara Schermerhorn said. “It’s only our neighborhood. Everyone around us is fine, and our entire neighborhood is devastated, and no one came to help us, no one, not one.”
She said they had just finished remodeling their dream home.
“We moved here a little over a year ago,” she said as she broke down in tears. “It was a foreclosure that sat for seven years, and we put our blood, sweat tears and all of our savings into this house and now it’s gone.”
She said she wants to let people see her emotion because she wants county officials to see just how bad things are.
She and her husband said they have called county officials multiple times to ask for help, and so far, they’ve received no communication and no help.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.
Local News
