MIAMI GARDENS, FLA. (WSVN) - Residents in Miami Gardens are still dealing with Tropical Storm Eta’s impact days after the storm swept through the area.
For Joan and Joseph Collier, it has been a few days since they’ve left their home.
Their son, Kellon Collier, came to check on them but didn’t think his truck could make it down the road.
“I need to get out,” said Joan over the phone.
“It’s always like that,” Kellon said. “Any rain over here, it always floods because the water comes from this way, the water comes from that way, and they don’t clean the middle drain.”
Their street off Northwest 22nd Avenue does get flooded, but it’s been almost two decades since they’ve seen it this bad.
“In 2002, we had a bad flood like that,” said Joseph.
“Yeah, we’re waiting to see if someone can at least relieve the water,” said Kellon.
Nearby, Yeni Prats and her husband Pablo Sosa have not had working appliances since the storm swept through.
“The fridge is off,” Prats said. “I connect it and no connecting. The dishwasher is off. I see [the water], oh, my God, it’s incredible. It’s nasty.”
The family of five said they woke up at around 4 a.m. when floodwater began flowing into their home. The water destroyed almost everything it touched.
By the time the sun came up, the front of their Miami Gardens home on Northwest 170th Street near 22nd Avenue was underwater, leaving them with nowhere to go.
Their furniture is sitting on their front yard Tuesday night, and fish could be seen swimming in the floodwater near their front door. The baseboards throughout the home have been bowed out.
Although the floor is now dry inside Prat’s home, they said they have a lot of work to do before the family can get a good night’s rest.
A few blocks away from the Colliers, Lumene Johnson is trying to clean up her cars after they took on water. She has lived at her home for 50 years, and it is the second time she has seen this type of severe flooding.
“They filled up with water and just trying to take the water out and stuff like that,” she said. “Everybody gets scared. The kids get scared. Everybody gets scared.”
Drewcilla Douse said she felt much better on Wednesday, but she has damages to deal with. She started off the day cleaning out her car with a friend.
“This is beautiful,” she said. “The pictures that we have is unbelievable. It’s just like they built our home somewhere in the middle of the Everglades.”
Douse’s home is elevated from the street but she said her hardwood floors are still damaged.
“Everybody in this neighborhood is being fixed except for Miami Gardens, and I pay over $9,000 in taxes to have to deal with this nonsense.”
Douse said she has also reached out to city officials.
“They said they would call back, so we got so disgusted we were calling the City of Miami, anybody, to come alleviate this problem and nobody called, nobody shows up,” she said. “It’s just a mess.”
Patrick Matthews who lives nearby said he made some calls before the storm as well.
“I called the county for them to come drain the drains but nobody ever came,” he said. “They said it would take a month and it stays flooded over there all the time, every time it rains.”
Sandrew Martin said his street is prone to flooding, so he did his best to prepare for Eta by parking his cars on his front lawn. However, it did not make a difference as the water rose so high, his vehicles flooded, along with his neighbors’.
“I got, like, maybe four inches of water out of the front and back, and I’m going to do the passenger side,” Martin said. “There ain’t much I can do, just park my cars inside and can’t hide them in the back because the whole backyard was flooded, too.”
7SkyForce HD hovered over Shula’s Golf Club in Miami Lakes, and it could be seen covered with standing water.
Daniel Hernandez, a resident of the Hialeah/Hialeah Gardens area, said he’s never seen this much water in the area.
“I was driving down 28th, and the canals are overflowing into the street. It’s getting ridiculous,” he said.
There was a significant change, however, on Northwest 42nd Avenue just hours later.
Early in the morning, there was standing water from sidewalk to sidewalk with a stalled car, and later in the morning, when the car was towed, the street was nearly dry.
Prat’s family said they have insurance, but they have not received a clear answer from the company on when someone will be able to respond.
The South Florida Water Management District said all of their pumps are running to push the water out, but due to the amount of water, it will not be a quick process. Therefore, the water in the area could be around for a couple more days.
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