For Volusia County residents in the Astor area, flood waters remain a concern following the passage of Hurricane Irma on Sept. 10 due to area's proximity to the St. Johns River and Lake Harney.

  • Waters from river, lake expected to crest 4-10 feet
  • Additional water will flood more homes, businesses
  • Storm damage, debris, lack of electricity adding to problems

Astor resident Ron Braithwaite didn't expect flood waters following Irma to be as bad as what he's seen, and now he's facing the possibility of it getting worse.

"I don't know how long it's going to be like this here until the water starts to drain," Braithwaite said. "As for all of this, its just a lot of work, I mean, clean up is going to be months out here for people to get back on their feet."

County officials expect the waters from the St. Johns River and Lake Harney to crest 4-10 feet or so, flooding more homes and businesses.

"It happened so quick," Braithwaite said. "During the storm it wasn't that bad ... but right after the storm hit the water just started coming up."

Just up the water-covered road about five minutes from Braithwaite's home, the Jungle Den Mobile home park is also struggling. Resident Paul Lashinsky pointed out trees on top of homes, water seeping into their back doors and residents still without power.

"It's all the same, all the way down -- just solid water," Lashinsky said. "It's going to spill into homes and it's going to create damage to the homes to the furnishing and then people will definitely have no place to go."

Residents said they are hoping the water will start moving from south to north and slowly push out, so then they'll have some relief.

"We need help out here pretty bad," Lashinsky said. "That's what we're trying to do is get somebody out here from FEMA to look at this and talk with us and see what we can do."

The mobile home park issued evacuations for the park prior to the storm, and is now encouraging any remaining residents to leave due to the dangers surrounding them.

However, some of the residents said they have no place to go, and are looking for assistance.

"My biggest concern is moisture coming up through the bottom of the trailers, and we'll have mold and mildew in the walls and the floor and it's going to become unlivable," Lashinsky said. "So we would like to get in touch with FEMA and have them come out, do an assessment and help replace some of these people, put them somewhere else where they can live because they can't live here."

FEMA officials said residents facing conditions like those in Astor should contact the Volusia County Citizen Hotline at 866-345-0345 if they can't access a computer.