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Woman in Putnam County worries her home could soon be underwater

A drainage ditch in her backyard is already causing flooding. She reached out to the On Your Side team to get some help before the Ian arrives.

PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. — It’s the calm before the storm, and Sunday Cain is trying to get her drainage ditch fixed before Hurricane Ian moves in.

“I wish somebody would clean that ditch, somebody would take a little responsibility or help or something because if this isn’t cleaned out it is inevitable that I'm going to drown because I have the lowest house," said Cain. 

Cain has lived in her home for several years and in the last year she noticed the ditch in her backyard that helps drain the storm water isn’t flowing the way it used to.

“Like the storm we just had a couple days ago where it rain for a few days and I got flooded out probably twelve inches of water in the backyard and it went all the way up to my front door," said Cain. 

First Coast News talked with John Jackson, General Manager at River Park Utilities, who said in the past the county used to maintain the drainage ditch but stopped.

Cain says she contacted her County Commissioner who told her the county no longer keeps up with the ditch because they learned that the property was privately owned.

“The six houses around me all get flooded, if we get any more water like we are going to get like what's coming there’s going to be people with water inside their homes," said Cain. 

County Commissioner, Bill Pikens tells First Coast News that he's looking into the flooding issue with staff to see if there is something they can do to help. 

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