LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. — Water was quickly flooding the streets of Lehigh Acres Thursday night after the area received a tornado warning.
Neighbors said they were not surprised by flooding, but rather by how fast it came up to their properties this time.
Jessie Hill was on his way back home Thursday night after grocery shopping when he said the sky just opened up.
“It was hot,” he said. “All of a sudden you know, you come out… it looks kind of dark and I didn’t know it was going to start raining like that.”
Water immediately began to fill his Lehigh community. At that same time, his wife received a tornado warning.
“My wife told me it was right over us. I’m like ‘really?’ she said yes.” Hill said. “Yes, it gets like that… but then it drains really fast.”
But he said usually it does not flood this fast.
He’s just grateful he did not lose a second car to these deep waters like he had in another summer storm.
“It went right here on my car and what happened was a truck came behind me and it had big tires,” Hill said.
He said there are things the county could do to help prevent flooding and clear standing water.
“I think maybe they need to go through the ditches again, dig them a little bit deeper, clean out the pipes and stuff,” he said.
But Hill counts his blessings through each downpour.
“We still have the roof, it’s not like Ian when it came through,” he said.
Like many, he hopes something can be done to clear the ditches to lessen the flooding.