A home in Port Richey was demolished Thursday as part of Pasco County’s plan to alleviate some of the severe flooding issues in the Holiday Hills neighborhood.

  • Pasco Co. to demolish Holiday Hills home to help with flooding issues
  • County to tear down 3 homes, create bigger retention pond
  • Holiday Hills neighborhood experienced severe flooding

A home being torn down may not be music to most people’s ears, but it was Thursday for many Holiday Hills neighbors.

“I'm glad to see this come because this neighborhood deserves it they really do," said Sandra Walter.

Walter has lived in the Holiday Hills subdivision for 13 years. Her homes flooded three times.

“The first flood we had, we had to crawl out our back windows and bust the back fence out to get across to safety," said Walter.

For 13 years, Walter has been waiting for a resolution. Thursday, she saw it.

The demolished home was one of three houses the county purchased to increase the neighborhood retention pond, in the hopes of keeping flood waters out of homes.

The county said most of the homes were built in the 60's and 70's. Back then they didn't have the zoning regulations they do today to help alleviate flooding issues.

The county hopes to purchase even more homes as they become available.

Homeowners saw significant flooding in 2015 and again in 2016 with Tropical Storm Hermine.

Pasco County also said that last year flood water got into the storm water system and caused raw sewage backups into homes.

“Raw sewage throughout the whole house, the carpet soaked it up, the flooding started coming up, cabinets started falling apart,” said one resident.

Across from the demolition is Brett Little’s home. It has been passed down since 1969.

“We've been flooded twice, my father got flooded in the no name storm, my grandmother got flooded twice over here," said Little.

Little hopes this work will stop the cycle. Along with the demolition, crews are resurfacing damaged roadways and are installing a temporary pumping and piping system.

“We're just getting ready to pay off our loan from FEMA from four years ago, so we're hoping it works," said Little.

So far the county has spent $140,000 on the effort. The entire project is expected to cost about $1.4 million.

The county is seeking funding for the project from the South West Florida Water Management District. Other funding could come from a proposed increase in the storm water utility fee.