‘It kept rising:’ Yulee residents continue to deal with flooding issues

NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. — While the rain is gone, some Nassau County residents are dealing with standing water. However, many say they are relying on themselves to fix the problems.

Action News Jax Annette Gutierrez spoke with neighbors on Clyde Higginbotham Road, who said they couldn’t sleep Wednesday night because the water kept rising. The water they were pumping wasn’t enough.

“Even after the rain stopped, it kept rising to dangerous levels and there’s nothing we can do about it,” Yulee resident Skyler Swisher said.

Skyler Swisher and his wife, Anna, have lived here since the 90s. They say they’ve never seen anything like this. They have chest deep water in their backyard, and they’ve even found fish swimming there.

“It’s terrifying, our house is getting ready to flood away,” Anna Swisher said. “We have been up for literally days without going to bed, digging ditches, moving water, using pumps.”

They’re not the only ones. Just a few miles down on Old Stevens Lane, Edmond Mcinturff’s backyard is practically a lake.

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“I can live in a cardboard box, but my wife and my daughter and my mother-in-law, uh huh,” McInturff said, getting emotional. “And I apologize to her.”

“I would really like to have some help, that’s all I want,” his wife, Kay McInturff said.

While the flooding in his driveway still looks bad, it’s actually a lot better because of a ditch that he had someone help him dig to help alleviate the high waters.

“The county come out here and told him it was illegal,” McInturff said. “They’re more concerned about their little rules than trying to save lives and save our homes.”

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County workers told Action News Jax they came and surveyed the home, but the neighbors claim no action has been taken.

So, the Swishers made a plea online.

Neighbors and businesses came together, donating pumps to help bring the water level down.

“If it wasn’t for other people, good Samaritans, we wouldn’t even be here to be fighting for our own,” Swisher said.

Community members put together a GoFundMe to help cover the costs of all the equipment they are borrowing to help remove the water.

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As for McInturff’s home, the county’s stormwater director said in part, “The county opened up the cross drain culvert underneath Harts [road] to allow it to flow south through another drainage easement (also private)  which appears to be start of a natural drainage system.”

Action News Jax was able to help facilitate conversation with the concerned residents and the county.

The county said they are doing everything they can.

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