

DeBary residents demand solution to flooding 'fiasco'


DEBARY -- A sometimes rowdy crowd packed the DeBary City Council meeting Wednesday night demanding an explanation for why more than 130 of their homes flooded.

Those who threatened lawsuits and called for the resignation of the city manager and mayor drew applause. A woman who urged fellow residents to "give the city a pat on the back" and be thankful they survived was booed.

Residents asked why pumps were not brought in and turned on sooner.

They accused the city leaders of poor planning and abandoning their responsibility.

"To call this anything other than a complete fiasco is to call it a compliment," said Mordecai Dixon, 40, who had to evacuate his house because water made it inaccessible.

City officials responded that they have to pump the water through a series of lakes and have to wait for the water to drop before they can pump more water.

The pumped water eventually makes its way to the St. Johns River.

The flooding has put some residents on edge.

At a City Council meeting on Friday, a distraught woman who was complaining about the flooding was escorted out of Florence K. Little Town Hall by a Volusia County deputy sheriff and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting an officer without violence.

Many residents said they were frustrated that their banks, insurance companies and the government had not told them they were in flood-prone areas.

"I've got a house that is worthless because nobody informed me," said Jeff Morosetti, who has lived on Alexandra Woods Drive for nine years.

The city has also come under fire for not making fixes after it flooded following the 2004 hurricanes even though voters approved a $10 million bond.

The city also flooded in 1994.

"Why did it take from 1994 to 2008 at a cost of $10 million for the same thing to happen?" asked R. Jason deGroot, an attorney for a flooded resident, who told the city he planned to sue.

The city estimates workers are pumping 45 million gallons a day and say they are working as fast as possible. An estimated 800 million gallons inundated the city when Tropical Storm Fay blew through.

The City Council spent most of the meeting listening to residents' grievances.

"We do have a plan," council member Norm Erickson said.

"It needs to be looked at again."

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