Hurricane-related flooding worries central Florida residents

Central Florida residents in areas that have a history of flooding are anxious and looking for relief as the 2023 hurricane season begins.

Days after Hurricane Ian plowed through Central Florida last September — dropping more than 16 inches of rain in her neighborhood — water surrounded and turned into islands nearly every home in Midway, including Stallworth’s.

“Water was all around my property and others,” Stallworth said this week. “I was born and raised in Midway. … But I had never seen it like that before.”

Midway residents have long struggled with flooded roads and inundated yards after strong storms because of an aging stormwater infrastructure system which, until recently, has been neglected for decades by Seminole County.

But the flooding has become worse in recent years, they say, because of the hundreds of new homes that have recently sprouted along East Lake Mary Boulevard, which causes more stormwater to flow into Midway.

But it’s not just Midway residents who are anxious and looking for relief. Ian also swamped other working-class neighborhoods across Central Florida.