LAKELAND, Fla. — “Time flies over us, however leaves its shadow behind.”
That quote, attributed to the author Nationwide Hawthorne, sums up what Nicole Aldahonda-Ramirez is feeling six months after Hurricane Milton flooded her Lakeland house.
Since then, time has flown.
“It looks like it’s been ten years,” she stated.
However Milton’s shadows are nonetheless in every single place: all through her Lakeland neighborhood on Little Lake Bonny, inside and outdoors her house, and behind her thoughts continuously.
“You recognize, I’m in remedy for the PTSD, the trauma, all the pieces that’s gone on,” Aldahonda-Ramirez stated.
Her house, situated immediately on the lake, had by no means flooded earlier than till Milton.
It flooded so badly {that a} boat collided along with her house, and he or she needed to escape by way of the entrance window along with her canine.
“I can’t even consider I went in and thru the water,” she stated. “I’d by no means go in that water, and the truth that I really was in it strolling with alligators, who is aware of the place they had been.”
Six months later, she’s again within the house however nonetheless rebuilding it little by little.
It’s exhausting. It’s costly. It will probably really feel not possible.
“It has a unique that means dwelling right here now,” she stated whereas holding again tears. “It’s not, it’s not what I believed it was going to be.”
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The worst half is the uncertainty.
“It’s not if I’m going to flood,” she stated. “It’s when.”
She feels the Metropolis of Lakeland can and may do extra to decrease the lake stage and stop future floods on Lake Bonny.
Town has taken some motion.
In March, the town introduced a 90-day emergency settlement with the Southwest Florida Water Administration District, which controls lake ranges.
Earlier than the settlement, the town may solely pump water from Lake Bonny into close by Lake Parker when Bonny reached a 10-year flood stage.
The brand new settlement will permit the town to make use of the emergency pump sooner when Lake Bonny’s flood stage is roughly midway between a standard lake stage and the 10-year flood stage.
Town just lately drained the culvert that runs between Lake Bonny and Lake Parker and found no obstructions.
Earlier this yr, the Metropolis of Lakeland additionally commissioned a research of the Lake Bonny flooding to determine causes and attainable long-term options. In line with the research’s timeline, it ought to be nearing completion within the coming weeks.
Nevertheless, Aldahonda-Ramirez and others need extra solutions, options, and proof that they matter to the town.
“It’s extraordinarily exhausting, however you must hold going,” she stated.
Proper now, she’s amassing signatures on a petition that asks the town for an “impartial third-party assessment” of the flooding alongside Lake Bonny.
She plans to ship the signatures to commissioners at an upcoming assembly.
Advocating for her group whereas rebuilding her house has grow to be a full-time job for Aldahonda-Ramirez.
“It’s insane the method,” she stated. “You’ll by no means assume that each one of that is concerned in it after the very fact and that no one is there to offer you assist or solutions.”
Six months have handed, however Milton nonetheless hangs like a cloud over her house and others.
“Let’s assist out our group the place we will.”
A neighborhood enterprise proprietor based the Hometown Titan Retreat with the purpose of encouraging the complete native enterprise group to come back collectively and assist as a lot as they’ll after devastating hurricanes in 2024.
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