New flooding problems arise in Hillsborough County

The lake behind Robert Arthur's Brandon home is nearly seeping into his house.  He and his neighbors barely have any yard left, the flood-water hasn't receded at all.

"I think if it does keep raining we're going to get water just a question from the street that's flooded or from the lake," he said.

He blames in part the county's storm water system.

"The county came in 3 years ago to try and fix storm water runoff in this area and ever since then the water level has been high in this lake," he told FOX 13.

His concerns were addressed at a press briefing regarding the county's flooding response.

"A lot of our storm water programs, residents identified projects they call us with a problem we go investigate and try to find a solution if there is one," said Public Works Director John Lyons.

County leaders noted the recent rains are a 100-year type event. 

"We've sized our system to deal with a certain amount of volume, you can't size a storm water system to deal with this kind of volume," said County Administrator Mike Merrill.

In total 97 homes in Hillsborough have damage ranging from minor to major; estimated damages are at 564 thousand dollars and rising.

"You can plan and practice and exercise but when it happens it's never what your expected," added Merrill.

The county says they're prioritizing and responding to every call that comes in.  The county is also increasing its mosquito control efforts due to all of the standing water.