VENICE — Sisters Marianne Robertson and Julie Thomas were among the people who had to be rescued from the Golden Beach area because of Hurricane Helene’s storm surge.
They think the catastrophic flooding in the area is the foreseeable result of what they say is the city’s failure to adequately address long-standing drainage problems related to nearby Flamingo Ditch.
Robertson and Thomas occupy the two units of a duplex on Golden Beach Boulevard that their mother bought in 1989.
Drainage issues date at least that far back, they said, but they’ve been getting worse.
The property had never suffered any significant damage through the years, but the three hurricanes prior to Helene each caused more than $50,000 in damage, they said.
They have flood insurance but it’s expensive. And as storms follow upon each other, it’s hard to keep up with repairs.
Much of the contents of their units was curbside for pickup Thursday because water inside them had risen to chest high, Robertson said.
It happened quickly and didn’t recede, so they called to be rescued and were taken out by boat.