More than 100 homeowners have charged in a lawsuit that officials in Sarasota County, Florida, failed to maintain a dike for years, allowing Hurricane Debby’s floodwaters to inundate homes throughout an upscale subdivision.
“Engineering modeling analysis has confirmed that without the breach of the Cow Pen Slough dike, there would have been no flooding of the interior of the homes in Laurel Meadows,” reads the lawsuit complaint, filed this month in Sarasota County Circuit Court.
Hurricane Debby grazed the western flank of the Florida peninsula in August 2024, deluging some areas with as much as 17 inches of rain over a three-day period, the suit notes. Some homes in the Laurel Meadows subdivision saw as much as 24 inches of water inside, causing extensive damage to drywall, floors, fixtures, appliances and belongings—and forcing residents to move out temporarily…