After nearly two weeks of steady rain in Pasco County and no indication of drying out, county commissioners voted in favor of declaring a local state of emergency on Friday.

The evacuation order, however, has been lifted for residents located in the Elfers area, and Flood Watch has been lifted on the Anclote River.

Annette Doying, the Director of Emergency Management for Pasco County, requested the motion, stating that 65 properties have some flood damage, and six of those properties are businesses.

The good news is that flood damage does not appear to be significant.

Doying says the local state of emergency will allow authorities to be more flexible and respond faster to the flooding. It'll also help get a number of roads repaired sooner that have been damaged by all the rainfall.

"We have over a million dollars worth of damage right now (50 roads damaged)," said Public Works Director Mike Garrett. "If the rain continues, the garbage trucks are turning these roads up. We'll probably do 10 times that damage within a week."

All of the county commissioners voted in favor of declaring a local state of emergency, which authorized the county administrator to extend the resolution if necessary without a vote and call for evacuations of high risk areas.

Pasco County is also waving tipping fees for flood victims whose addresses are registered. They can get rid of flood damaged debris without having to pay a fee at the dump.