Loxahatchee residents bring in own pumps to battle flooding

LOXAHATCHEE, Fla. - A Loxahatchee neighborhood remains under water and isolated more than 48 hours after Tropical Storm Isaac passed through Palm Beach County. Some of the roads in the Deer Run residential community are impassable and some homes are just feet from floodwaters.

While some areas of Palm Beach County are seeing serious but isolated flooding, Deer Run's flooding seems far reaching. Residents along with their homeowners association are gearing up to bring the water levels down.

With permission from the South Florida Water Management District, the residents have rented a secondary water pump to take over for the primary pump which was overwhelmed by too much precipitation in such a short time span.

"There's no way the system could ever handle it," said Steven Pavlick, who has lived at Deer Run for 22 years. "Hurricane Wilma was nothing compared to this," he said.

The association is also dumping fresh dirt around the community, trying to fortify the saturated grounds. Nearby communities, including Fox Trail, are also under water in many places. Residents say they are hoping to find fixes to their flooding problems soon.

"I hope it works," said Lissette Rodriguez, who owns property at Deer Run. "It can't get worse," she said. "If it does get worse, we're going to be in big trouble."