St. Johns River still causing flooding, officials say

ASTOR, Fla. – The St. John's River hasn't budged since Wednesday, leaving residents and emergency management officials concerned.

"If we get any more rain though, I'm afraid there will be some people in the real low lying areas will actually have water inside their houses," said Lynn Moody.

Moody measured the river at his home to see how high it is.

"Here at the dock it's about 5 1/2 feet. It's normally at 3 feet," said Moody.

Moody said he's confident that more rain won't affect his property but can't say the same for his neighbors who only stay in town on weekends.

"If they're not here during the weeks, then their boats are inside their boat house and the water comes up. They can't get their boats out because it lifts it up because it's too high or tears their docks up," he said.

Emergency management officials from Volusia, Seminole and Lake counties took pictures of the flooded roads on Thursday while on a boat down the St. John's River. They said it's at the minor flooding stage and officials will continue to monitor it.

However, Moody said it's not just the already swollen river that concerns residents. His neighbor has already had problems with boaters.

"One of our neighbors who is three doors down was yelling at one of the other neighbors because he made a little bit of a wake and it's over her seawall. It's understandable because it causes a lot of damage to the houses and the property around them," said Moody.

Lake County Fire Department said the "no wake" zone is still in effect.  Also, if residents still need sandbags, they can pick them up at Fire Station 10 on State Road 40. As of Wednesday night, more than half of the sandbags were gone.


About the Author
Loren Korn headshot

Loren Korn is a native Texan who joined the News 6 team as a reporter in May 2014. She was born and raised in Houston and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Journalism.

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