Withlacoochee River Woes Continue

With Hurricane Milton in the rear-view mirror, citizens of West Florida have been picking up the pieces and aiming to return to their normal lives. For some citizens, though, that is easier said than done.

Despite being nearly two weeks removed from the landfall of the tropical cyclone, the citizens of Ridge Manor and surrounding areas of Hernando County are now being hit with a literal second wave of grief brought on by the storm. Local Tom Champney is one of many such residents who has been affected by rising water levels of the nearby Withlacoochee River.

“My garage is under a foot of water,” said Champney. “My house has probably got about three inches before it goes in the house. So, I’ll be back tomorrow to see how much farther this water comes up. Praying that it doesn’t come up any more.”

As Champney talked with the Sun in the Ridge Manor Community Center’s parking lot, do-gooders and other affected citizens who live on the shores of Lake Geneva were unloading kayaks to paddle down Lakewood Drive to their waterlogged abodes.

This tragedy, which happened largely after Milton’s mainland exit, has seen water levels in his neighborhood rise from 24-36 inches deep to upwards of 60 inches just since Friday, Champney estimated.

Hernando Fire Rescue’s Jason Brazinski believes that some spots among the hundreds of homes in the Lakewood area may even be as deep as 7 feet deep. “You look down and you see mailboxes two feet under the water,” Brazinski said. “Our friends’ houses that we keep checking on, it started as ankle-deep water. Now, it’s over thigh-deep in the house. A lot of these houses, the entire septic system has backfilled into the house. So, it’s a catastrophe inside.”

With his home three-quarters of a mile from the river and mere yards away from Lake Geneva, Champney and other residents are on the front lines of the post-storm surge. He has not exactly been pleased with the county’s response to the flooding, either. However, Tom did take note of Brazinski, who has friends living in the area, for regularly showing up to assist homeowners with the aid of his wife.

Why does the water keep rising? With the region’s aquifer already being full from the wet season, SWFWMD’s Mark Fulkerson noted Hurricane Milton’s double-digit rainfall did not help matters. Other locations that did not receive as much rainfall are continuing to fill “as water continues to move from higher elevation to lower elevation land,” Fulkerson continued.

SWFWMD’s update added that water has thankfully begun cresting in many areas, such as Nobleton, Trilby, Ridge Manor, and Green Swamp at various points over the last week-plus. Despite this, Brazinski notes that those on the shores of Lake Geneva are still experiencing rising water as the river dumps excess water into the local inlet.

As the Withlacoochee River flows northward, levels around the Highway 44, Highway 200, Dunnellon, Lake Rousseau, Lower Withlacoochee River, and Lake Panasoffkee areas are also continuing to rise ever further.

Water control measures, including the Wyson and Leslie Hefner structures have been lowered and opened, respectively, but there is no way to lower the rising levels on Lake Panasoffkee. According to the Southwest Florida Water Management District, the waters there may continue to rise another foot over the next 5-7 days until the nearby river crests and begins to fall.

Flooding has even reached historic levels in some areas, surpassing peaks reached during 2004’s multi-hurricane fiasco. Ridge Manor has seen its highest watermark since 1960, while the Trilby area is enduring its worst flooding since the peak of the Great Depression in 1934.

Friday’s high-water mark of 19.68 feet fell just shy of the 20.4-foot threshold nearly a century ago. “I’ve been here 24 years, and I never ever thought” that this level of flooding would happen, stated Champney. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s US 301 Trilby Gauge, the flooding currently rests at 19.1 feet as of 3:30 pm on Tuesday.

This extreme ground saturation presents further problems as time goes on, as Champney can attest. In addition to flooding, the Ridge Manor resident had a tree fall over and puncture his roof. The odds of this occurring to more homes regrettably rises by the day, as the more saturated the ground becomes, the easier it is for trees to uproot and topple over.

That is not even to mention the loss of power. While thousands of homes across Florida have regained electricity since the storm, many still have not. This can be detrimental for locals like Doreen whose husband is a 100 percent disabled Vietnam veteran and requires power to be properly cared for.

The couple has made do, though, and is currently lodging elsewhere until power is restored. Doreen is extremely grateful for the help of her community during these trying times. “We were really blessed,” she said. “Everyone came together to help us out.”