NORTHEAST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - A week after a tropical rainstorm caused flooding throughout South Florida, Miami-Dade County officials are urging residents to fill out a damage assessment survey.
In the aftermath of the rain, streets in Miami-Dade were left flooded and homes were flushed with water. Piles of trash and water-damaged furniture litter the streets.
Trash bags surround Lidie Theoc’s home as she is left to clean up after last week’s storms.
“Pretty bad. Worse than (hurricane) Irma, worse than Irma, like four times more bad,” she said.
Theoc said the water level was waist-deep.
“Water you see, what they called everything very high,” she said. “Whatever inside, they fit it with trash, and they, so maybe on Saturday they’re going to throw some furniture out.”
Dozens of trash bags now surround her home in northeast Miami-Dade.
“You see where they are cutting the wall it was very high. Whatever they are cutting out they are putting in the bags and Sunday we will take out all the furniture,” said Theoc.
The relentless rain almost destroyed all of Theoc’s belongings.
“We are living in the hotel, but the condition is really bad,” she said.
Somoya, a resident who lives down the street from Theoc, is also dealing with damage to her home due to contaminated overflowing water.
“I had water all over my house,” she said.
Her furniture was damaged as water had flushed into her home. The water level in her house was high enough to fill up her bathtub.
Somoya said her neighborhood was underwater.
“We’ve been pushing the water out, we was washing, I was washing the portrait and we had to, my parent’s bed, under the bed, it’s like water,” she said.
On Wednesday 7News visited Somoya while the floodwaters have since receded. She tells us she has lost almost everything.
“The water level was up to here, you can see my hoverboard, it’s probably broken but then I have some shoes here,” she said as she gave a tour of her home.
Somaya was able to salvage just a few items.
“My parents’ bed, under the mattress is filled with like bubbles of water, so we are sleeping in my room,” she said.
Somoya is afraid they have lost what she called home and is now hoping to get some help.
“We’re trying to move out the house right now,” she said.
The county’s Department of Emergency Management on Wednesday activated a damage assessment survey tool, which will allow businesses and people to document the type of damage they sustained and how severe it was.
The information gathered from the survey will be used to help those who were most affected to connect with additional resources.
“They came yesterday, they offer us shelter,” said Theoc.
Residents who want to file insurance claims for any damage must contact their insurance provider because the survey will only be used for the allocation of resources.
For more information on reporting damage, click here.
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