Orlo Vista residents vulnerable to another season amid delayed flood prevention project

WESH 2 NEWS. I’M BOB HAZEN IN ORANGE COUNTY. I’VE BECOME SEVERELY. I LOVE THIS HOUSE. CARMEN CURBELO HAS LIVED HERE IN THE WESTSIDE MANOR COMMUNITY OF ORLO VISTA FOR 26 YEARS. HURRICANE IAN WRECKED HER HOME WHEN IT FLOODED THE NEIGHBORHOOD. DOZENS HAD TO GET OUT ON RESCUE BOATS. CARMEN SPENT MONTHS FIXING HER HOME. I PUT MY HEART TO FACE THIS HOUSE TO ENDURE IT. OTHERS COULD NOT. THESE EMPTY SLABS SHOW WHERE MOBILE HOMES USED TO BE, BUT ARE NOW GONE TOO BADLY DAMAGED TO SAFE. HURRICANE IRMA IN 2017 CAN ALSO SWAMP THIS NEIGHBORHOOD AND A PLAN TO BETTER PROTECT ORLO VISTA WAS APPROVED YEARS AGO. BUT THE ACTUAL WORK JUST STARTED IN MARCH. SINCE THEN, HOUSES HAVE BEEN PUMPING WATER AND EXCAVATORS DIGGING A MASSIVE JOB AHEAD. AND CARMEN IS HAPPY TO SEE THEM. I SAID, OH GOD, WE’RE ALL GOING TO HAVE THAT PROBLEM NO MORE. I HOPE SO. FOR THE COMPANY HIRED BY ORANGE COUNTY, HAS DRAINED TWO SMALL PONDS HERE INTO A MUCH BIGGER THIRD POND. AND THESE EXCAVATORS ARE DIGGING OUT THE MUCK AND THE DIRT FROM INSIDE. EVENTUALLY, THEY’LL DRAIN THE BIG ONE BACK INTO THE OTHER TWO AND DIG IT OUT AS WELL. THE GOAL IS TO MAKE ALL OF THEM TEN FEET DEEPER AND ABLE TO HANDLE A LOT MORE WATER IN A BIG STORM. BUT THEY DON’T EXPECT TO FINISH EVERYTHING UNTIL NEXT YEAR. THIS SYSTEM IS NOT GOING TO BE UP AND RUNNING BEFORE THIS THIS SEASON BEGINS. JANET BUFORD JOHNSON HAS A HOUSE ON RONNIE CIRCLE. ONE OF THE PONDS IS IN HER BACKYARD. WE GOT A LITTLE BIT OF WORK DONE. SHE TOOK US INSIDE WHERE SHE HAD TO GUT EVERYTHING. AND EVEN WORSE FOR HER IS LOSING THE MEMORIES, THE SENSE OF THE HOME WHERE SHE RAISED HER KIDS. IT SMELT LIKE RAINWATER AND MOLD FOR SIX MONTHS. SHE SAYS THE REPAIR COST IS $142,000 AND IT IS ALL ON HER. SHE DIDN’T HAVE PROPERTY INSURANCE AND FEMA ONLY GAVE HER A TINY FRACTION OF THAT BILL. HE JUST DID THE DRYWALL IN HERE FOR ME. WE JUST HAD THIS PUT IN. JANET IS DOING WHAT SHE CAN, BUT SHE SAYS HER LIFE AND THOSE OF HER NEIGHBORS ARE CHANGED FOREVER. YOU SEE HOUSES THIS HERE, BUT THEY’RE JUST VACANT. THEY’RE NOBODY’S THERE. THEY HAVEN’T EVEN BEGUN TO WORK IN THEIR HOUSE BECAUSE THEY DON’T HAVE THE MONEY OR THE RESOURCES. WHILE THE WORK IS BEING DONE TO HOPEFULLY KEEP THE FLOODING FROM HAPPENING AGAIN, JANET IS TRYING TO CONVINCE ORANGE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AND THE MAYOR TO COME UP WITH A PROGRAM TO HELP PEOPLE IN ORLO VISTA PAY FOR THE REPAIRS THEY NEED TO REBUILD AND STAY IN THEIR HOMES. I’M PRAYING THAT NOTHING HAPPENS THIS YEAR, BUT W

Eight months after Hurricane Ian swamped the Orlo Vista neighborhood of Orange County, many homes are either still being repaired or too badly damaged for people to live in them. Janet Buford-Johnson’s house is on Ronnie Circle, which backs up to one of the three retention ponds at the center of the neighborhood. Water rose more than three feet into her house. She had to remove all the flooring and drywall. The interior of her house is studs and cement. “You see houses that are here; they’re just vacant. Nobody's there. They haven’t even begun to work on their houses. They don’t have the money or the resources,” Buford-Johnson said. The repairs to her home are estimated to cost over $140,000. She says the Federal Emergency Management Agency provided a tiny fraction of the cost, but the rest is on her: she didn’t have property insurance at the time of the hurricane. Download the WESH 2 Hurricane Survival Guide 2023Orange County Public Works began the long-delayed project to improve flood prevention in Orlo Vista in March. The plan involves excavating the three ponds so they are all 10 feet deeper and thus able to hold a lot more water. To do that, crews had to drain the two smaller ponds into the larger one, and heavy equipment has been digging out the muck underneath. Once the excavation is finished on those ponds, the larger pond will be drained back into them, and the crews will dig it out as well. The work is not expected to be finished until 2024, meaning residents will have to live through another hurricane season without the remedy in place. “I’m praying that nothing happens this year, but we live here. Anything is possible,” Buford-Johnson said.Related content:Hurricane preparedness: Essential steps to protect yourself and your homeHow to prepare for flooding produced by hurricanesHurricane watches, warnings: What they mean and what to do during

ORLOVISTA, Fla. —

Eight months after Hurricane Ian swamped the Orlo Vista neighborhood of Orange County, many homes are either still being repaired or too badly damaged for people to live in them.

Janet Buford-Johnson’s house is on Ronnie Circle, which backs up to one of the three retention ponds at the center of the neighborhood. Water rose more than three feet into her house.

She had to remove all the flooring and drywall. The interior of her house is studs and cement.

“You see houses that are here; they’re just vacant. Nobody's there. They haven’t even begun to work on their houses. They don’t have the money or the resources,” Buford-Johnson said.

The repairs to her home are estimated to cost over $140,000. She says the Federal Emergency Management Agency provided a tiny fraction of the cost, but the rest is on her: she didn’t have property insurance at the time of the hurricane.

Download the WESH 2 Hurricane Survival Guide 2023

Orange County Public Works began the long-delayed project to improve flood prevention in Orlo Vista in March. The plan involves excavating the three ponds so they are all 10 feet deeper and thus able to hold a lot more water.

To do that, crews had to drain the two smaller ponds into the larger one, and heavy equipment has been digging out the muck underneath. Once the excavation is finished on those ponds, the larger pond will be drained back into them, and the crews will dig it out as well.

The work is not expected to be finished until 2024, meaning residents will have to live through another hurricane season without the remedy in place.

“I’m praying that nothing happens this year, but we live here. Anything is possible,” Buford-Johnson said.

Related content:

Orlo Vista residents vulnerable to another season amid delayed flood prevention project

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