Business owners cry for help with flooding issues

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Heavy rains during rush hour Tuesday left drivers not only moving slowly but frustrated by flooding.

Business owners were frustrated, too, particularly around some of the worst areas of flooding along Cassat Avenue near Interstate 10.

A couple of car dealership owners along Cassat said they thought the issue with flooding in the area was going to be fixed with a road construction project that was finished within the last couple of years. But they said that with the heavy rains Tuesday, they still had to move cars around on their lots so that those cars didn't get damaged by water.

"Every time when it rains, we have a hard time with people getting in right here," Louie Baker said. "If you don't have a pickup truck, there's no way."

Those drivers and business owners said Wednesday that they are hoping for a solution that will fix the area so it doesn't flood with every storm.

Kevin Sapp of AutoMac said it was mayhem Tuesday.

"We helped a couple of cars move out of the way, get ladies out of their cars and onto the side so they wouldn't get hit by other cars," Sapp said. "You have big trucks coming through not concerned about the people that are broken down. They just run through the water, splashed water up on them. It's just a big hassle."

Business owners said that it's tough when it rains like that because people can't get to their stores. At The Peoples Car Company, it's been more than just the cars they've had to worry about: their building floods, too.

"We normally put a pump on the outside when it rain so hard," Joe Baker said. "We run it to the ditch, but sometimes the ditch in the drainage is so high that doesn't even help."

A spokesman for the Florida Department of Transportation said that they hadn't received any new complaints about flooding from the rains but will have maintenance crews check the area to see if it is a simple problem like clogged drainage ditches. Another drainage improvement project is scheduled for 2017-2018.

"They need to fix this problem," Sapp said. "They spent all this money to fix it the last time, and they haven't fixed it. It's still going on."
 
One of the dealership owners said that he doesn't want to deal with another construction project in the area, but it's either that or deal with flooding that happens every time it rains.

If you notice roads that are flooded from heavy rains or have clogged drains, you can report those to the Florida Department of Transportation's Jacksonville office at 904-360-5200.