HOLLY HILL, Fla. — Three weeks after Hurricane Milton flooded multiple homes in Holly Hill, city leaders are putting their heads together to come up with ways to alleviate stormwater problems in the city.

Just last week, residents told Spectrum News that they were still dealing with sewage backups in their neighborhood after Milton.

The city acknowledged it has a lot of work to do when it comes to addressing what it deems are its two biggest challenges: drainage system and limited swale systems that are intended to help with runoff water.

Holly Hill residents like Danielle Latona are still picking up the pieces after Milton swept through Central Florida.

“Anything two feet under basically has to go, especially because we had sewer water,” Latona said.

After the inside of her home flooded with storm and sewer water, she had to throw away most of her belongings, which, for the most part, are still piled up on her front lawn.

But this isn’t the first time Latona has had to rebuild her home from scratch and she fears it won’t be the last.

“The timeline on when these projects are going to get done means we’ll probably flood one or two more times,” she expressed.

Holly Hill City Manager Joseph Forte said addressing these ongoing issues means “there are a lot of projects in the works right now and we won’t know what the results of those are until the next storm comes.”

The city is engaged in multiple stormwater projects including a vulnerability study, which will conclude in December of this year and “identify key threats to the city.”

With those results yielded by the study, the city plans to look for grants to further assist them with mitigation plans, including a $4.5 million grant to complete stormwater pipe lining.

In addition, Holly Hill commissioners outlined plans for a major project that is ready for construction to reduce flooding on Flomich Street, Alabama Avenue, and some connecting cul-de-sacs in the area for a cost of $400,000.

Latona and her neighbors attended Wednesday’s workshop on stormwater management in hopes of getting answers to their flooding questions.

She wants to know what will happen to homes like hers in the future, especially since hers sits on New Castle Court, where the city’s vice mayor, John Penny, recognized as likely unfixable pertaining to flooding.

“They’re spending more money paying us, well not paying us, but fixing our houses year after year after year when they can just purchase our houses and maybe make retention ponds there to take in some of the water so other areas don’t flood,” Latona explained.

One of his propositions to homeowners who experience repetitive flooding is to have FEMA buyout homes like Latona’s to be turned into retention ponds.

Forte also said the drainage systems aren’t ideal for the city’s growing needs.

Not to mention, the Halifax River has seen its water levels rise by at least 5 inches since 1990.

“All growth that’s come in, the overall stormwater systems haven’t kept up,” he explained.

Forte said the city is undergoing an $11 million major improvement to its sewer treatment plant.

The city also set aside approximately $1.47 million, including Capital Project Rollover, for its stormwater budget this year.

It has plans to allocate an additional $1.6 million to use for stormwater projects in the coming year as well.