PALM HARBOR, Florida. – Flooding is a problem in several areas of the Bay Areabut unprecedented flooding occurred for some residents of the Spanish Oaks neighborhood of Palm Harbor.

A nearby ski lift station may have contributed to the problem.

Around 8:00 p.m. in the evening Hurricane Milton crossing the Bay Area, water began flowing under the door of Kevin and Kiley Fisher’s Palm Harbor home.

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The couple spent the next hour trying to use tarps to mitigate the flooding, but by 9 p.m. their yard was filled with nearly five feet of floodwater.

“By the time we got to the baby, the water had come up to his crib mattress, so (Kevin) had the baby,” Kiley Fisher said. “I carried our six-year-old child. The water in our cul-de-sac was waist high,”

Fishermen do not have flood insurance because, according to the FEMA map, they are not in a flood zone. They say being outside of a flood zone is why they bought the house in 2015.

However, during Hurricane Milton, one of the other 18 homes accumulated inside a foot of floodwater.

“It’s believed that because of Helene, the ground was so saturated and there may have been damage to the drain infrastructure,” Kiley Fisher said.

Since then, they have learned to Pinellas County that this lift station located down the street, designed to pump wastewater from the property into the storm system, might have functioned differently if the storm drain had been clogged during the storm.

“If it’s a maintenance issue, if the pipes need to be looked at after big storms, … but something to make sure everything is working properly when we have a week’s warning before the arrival of ‘a hurricane,’ said Kiley Fisher. “So I feel like we have plenty of time to prepare.”

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Fisher says she has been in contact with Pinellas County commissioners, who said they plan to do an assessment of their area to understand exactly what caused massive flooding in an area not designated as a flood zone.

The fishermen lost almost all their belongings and had to tear out all their flooring and most of their drywall.

Fisher hopes Pinellas County learns exactly what went wrong so she and her neighbors never find themselves in a dangerous situation like this again.

“There is no doubt in my mind the amount of water that was outside the garage rather than inside, it took all of my and Ben’s effort to open the door just to get out – they would have been stuck inside,” Kevin Fisher said.

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