FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Dozens of residents now living in RVs parked outside their damaged homes after historic flooding in Fort Lauderdale continue to rebuild as they brace for the threat of hurricane season.
Sharon Dolan walked Local 10 News through her home in the city’s hard-hit Edgewood neighborhood Tuesday. She lost everything during the April floods but just finally got a makeshift room set up to sleep at night.
“I’ve been trying to get this house together for four years and I was down to my last bedroom, then that happened,” Dolan said of the floods.
She stayed with neighbors, but she’s back, although work still continues to rebuild her home, more than two months from the floods. She admits she gets nervous almost any time it rains.
“Whenever it does, I start freaking out,” Dolan said. “I start walking around and going ‘is this going to happen again?’”
Her neighbor, Dina Cruz, knows the feeling. She’s living in an RV in front of her home with her family. Space is tight.
“It just brings me memories and flashbacks of that day,” Cruz said.
Her place was gutted and is being rebuilt, but she fears what may happen this hurricane season.
“We were staying in a hotel for almost two weeks and or and then we decided that it was too much money,” Cruz said.
Dozens of homes in the area still have storage units out front. Many also had campers parked out front.
Cruz said rebuilding is nerve-wracking on its own.
“Now I don’t feel protected,” she said. “I don’t feel safe. None of our things, like our windows, our home is not like fully closed.”
There are major drainage overhaul projects ongoing at almost all of the areas hardest hit in Broward County, but those projects aren’t expected to be completed until next year. So crews are standing by with pumps and trucks at the ready, but encouraging residents this hurricane season to have a plan to be ready.
As of Tuesday, there was about a week left for flood victims to apply for federal assistance.