In recent weeks, a massive amount of flooding has occurred in Central Florida, including our beloved city of Sanford.The massive amounts of rain began around Sunday afternoon on September 19. The streets of  downtown Sanford quickly filled with water until visibility was next to nothing for drivers. By evening on that same day, people in parts of Sanford witnessed more than 5.8 inches of rain. Multiple warnings were issued out and the local police were blocking off some roads to keep people from coming into contact with the flooded areas. At this point, some of the neighborhoods in Sanford started looking more like rivers and swamps than a city. Previous flooding has never been this bad.

Arguments started to break out between drivers and the residents that were living in the flooded areas. Residents confronted drivers due to the excess water from the flooding being pushed onto the residence. Multiple houses were flooded including their yards, and many people’s cars were stuck in the rainwater. Another thing that caused a problem was, due to all of the heavy rain, some of the rainwater was getting into the sewer system which caused it to start getting backed up. Which greatly affected them and other businesses near the area.

As if the flooding wasn’t enough already, the pressure of the heavy rain caused the dirt to cave in, which caused a sinkhole to open up near Fort Mellon Park. The ground is in complete disarray, now there’s a huge chunk of the ground that looks like it’s missing, and the sidewalk has started lifting up from the land. The ground near the road has also started caving in, so parts of the road are now uneven, because of the uneven place in the road, it has been blocked so people don’t drive on it and potentially harm themselves. The part of the park where the sinkhole opened up has also been blocked with tape surrounding it to ensure people don’t go near the area in case they fall down there. 

A restaurant in Sanford was also another victim of these horrible flash floods, as people were sitting down eating their food, water just started rising out of nowhere. Diners had to lift their legs up and prop them up on the tables to keep them from getting wet. The water level continued to rise as people were trapped at the restaurant. There were massive amounts of water coming in through all of the doors. People were standing on their tables and chairs just to escape the depths of the water. When nearby cars would drive on the road, it would push water further into the dining area of the restaurant, creating a wave which moved the chairs and tables, leaving the diners holding on tightly as they were left stranded in the middle of it all. 

That following Monday morning everyone was outside helping take care of all of the damages that were caused due to the flash floods. Restoration had begun. There were sandbags everywhere, multiple people were seen using rakes to clear up the roads and their own yards, and water trucks were seen throughout the day picking up water, carrying it and removing it from the streets of Sanford.