Displaced for Christmas: Volusia County family fears home will still flood 2.5 months after Hurricane Milton

ORANGE CITY, Fla. - Christmas is looking a lot different this year for many Central Florida families displaced by Hurricane Milton.

It's been 75 days since the storm hit, and people are still stuck in limbo. Lenny and Shanell Gabella are among them. The Gabellas live on Miller Road in Orange City. Their home still has sandbags piled around the perimeter, and water up to the foundation.

"The stress is unbelievable. I’m telling you; it makes you sick thinking that you could lose everything – because we’re not in the flood zone, we don’t have flood insurance," said Lenny. "If this goes under, we're done as a family… like, the debt… you'll never be able to pay back… it's that big."

The Gabellas bought as much time as they could. They hired a company to dig trenches and a berm, but constant seepage from Miller Lake overpowered their pumps. The family’s septic tank flooded, so a neighbor loaned them a camper. Now parked in their driveway, it’s the only way the couple and their three young sons can go to the bathroom or bathe.

"It’s a nightmare," said Shanell. 

"It is hell," Larry said.

"It’s a nightmare that we cannot wake up from," added Shanell. "I don’t understand how we could flood out of our home three months after a hurricane."

In November, Volusia County, Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), and the city of DeBary began pumping water from the lake, but Catherine Levinson, who also lives on the lake, said the pumps can’t keep up with the water still flowing in through a drainage pipe under U.S. 1792. Neighbors’ pleas to have the pipe sealed were denied.

"Is it to save the big businesses on the other side of the lake? Maybe," Levinson said. "But they are sacrificing us."

The drainage pipe and the threat of more land development nearby has Levinson and others on edge. 

"There are 60 acres on the other side behind me, that, from what I understand, is for sale." Levinson said. "I don’t know what’s going to happen when that sells and when they develop it, because as soon as that develops, where’s that water going to go? Lenny’s home will be gone and maybe mine too."

Forced to spend the holidays elsewhere, it’s too late for a Christmas miracle at the Gabella household. Right now, they are just hoping they’ll still have a home for the new year.

"We're hardworking middle-class folk, and you lose this, you're done," Lenny said. "You've worked so hard to build your family and have a home."

Volusia County commissioners are holding a special meeting on January 14 to continue their discussion about a building moratorium. 

"They have to stop the subdivisions being built around the area," Lenny said. And they have to stop letting all the drain water flow into Miller [Lake]."

Lenny and those in favor of the moratorium, which would restrict new development, say it will help with current flooding issues.