CAPE CORAL, Fla. — Southwest Cape Coral got almost six inches of rain over the weekend. William Maurer said his neighborhood floods all the time, but yesterday was the worse he’s seen in years. 

“It was worse than Ian. Think about it. Ian was spread out amongst a bunch of hours. While mainly the rain was an hour, two hours. So it picked up pretty quick,” said Maurer. 

Drivers on Skyline and Chiquita Boulevard were forced to pull over or break down. Kate Mikolic said her pool overflowed. This morning, her family broke out the kayaks to help clean up the mess.

“We took the kayaks and were in the canal and there was a lot of debris in the canal. There was a couple branches down again, but we tried to get a lot of plastic bags out of the canals,” said Mikolic. 

ABC7 asked the City of Cape Coral if it plans to do anything else to reduce flooding. A spokesperson said Cape Coral’s stormwater system is designed for water to drain slowly. This helps filter pollutants out of the water before they enter the system. In fact, if the water drains too fast, it could indicate there’s an issue with the system.

The city said to be patient as we enter the rainy season. It could take 72 hours for water to drain. If it takes longer, you should report it through 311.