ORLANDO, Fla — Experts say that roads submerged under flood waters for days and weeks following Hurricane Ian may have lasting damage.

Carolina Faircloth, the Homeowners Association president for University Acres, says more than half of the homes in her community were destroyed by flooding.

On top of that, after days of flooding, she said she noticed new cracking on the streets once the waters receded.

“These cracks — we started noticing them once the water started receding and they have not been here before,” said Faircloth. “So we are getting concerned about the integrity of the roads now.”

University of Central Florida professor of civil engineering Manoj Chopra visited the area with Spectrum News to check out the roads in University Acres.

“Under this asphalt there is soil — that’s the soil bed and if it gets weaker, from flowing water over it or standing water, it’s possible it’s much weaker, and over time we may see more and more cracking,” said Chopra.

He explained that standing water, for days, puts pressure on the road and the bed of soil underneath it.

Flowing water, which residents also saw in the neighborhood, can cause even more erosion, Chopra said.

“Something underground is moving away from the road underneath and taking the soil with it and potentially taking the bed with it,” he said, noting that sometimes in these cases, emergency roadwork has to be done.

Damage on Rouse Road outside University Acres has already been examined by Orange County officials.

They said the road was washed out by flooding and will require repairs to the sidewalk, curb, road base, asphalt, and underground pipes.

“This is a clear example of a very quick-developing slope failure and it took all the systems with it,” said Chopra.

For other roads showing significant signs of stress, Chopra recommended that county and state agencies use ground penetrating radar and soil samples to determine what’s happening underneath.

“As soon as you start to get more load, you’re going to start to see more cracks,” he said.

More cracks could be spotted in the coming days, but Chopra doesn’t think Faircoth’s road will have to be dug up.

“I think the soil is a lot more forgiving, so once it stabilizes and you don’t get any more cracks, you could overlay it and repair it,” he said.

Chopra warned that even if a road looks OK on top, standing water for days can erode the soil underneath it, creating cavities like sinkholes.