
PORT RICHEY, FL -- Homeowners in the area of Ironbark Drive got a rude awakening Wednesday morning as flood waters seeped inside their homes.
Pasco County Emergency Management's last estimate around noon was 10 homes with water inside.
Damage assessment teams with the county are going door to door to get a grasp of just how significant the flood damage is.
Theresa Leatham is an Ironbark Drive homeowner. She woke up this morning to several inches of water in the back part of her house.
"I don't have insurance, I'm up a creek," she said.
Next door, the Endricks family is also dealing with invasive flood waters. The couple's 6-year-old son's room was covered with several inches of water. Kim Endricks says they also found three water snakes inside the house.
"Even with all of the bad hurricanes, it's never flooded like this. The worst it's gotten was maybe up to my circle driveway, which you can't even see," said Endricks.
She says the flood waters must have crept up fast. Her daughter was having a sleepover and at around four this morning, she told the girls to get to bed. At the time, everything appeared to be normal outside.
"I woke up at 6 a.m. and this is what I woke up to two hours later," she said, pointing at her front yard which looked more like lake front property. Her car was also partially submerged where it had been parked on the side of the road.
Emergency Management says it has helped nine people out of their homes so far. For the most part, people are staying behind because an evacuation has not been ordered.
Some people decided to leave their homes because the power had been shut off as a precaution because of the flooding.
Homeowners in the area say they've seen flooding before, but nothing like this.
"This is amazing. I've been here almost 10 years and I have never seen anything like this," said Theresa Gigere.
Some people blame a retention pond at Ironbark Drive and Glover Road.
"That drainage pond never goes down," said Leatham, "I'm mad."
Emergency Management says the flooding is due to over saturation of the ground from recent rains. It was made worse by the early morning rainstorm that brought several inches of water with it.
As storms continued to roll through in the afternoon, the full scope of the flood damage was not known.
"Unfortunately there's not much we can do but sit and wait and hope the water recedes," said Gigere.
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Created: 7/1/2009 7:00:27 AM 



