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Flooding outside of Jupiter Farms pre-school creating concern for children, parents

Posted at 7:11 PM, Oct 06, 2017
and last updated 2017-10-06 19:11:22-04

For Abbbie Vita, picking up her daughter on Friday was one thing.

“My car would not have made it out,” she says. “We had to use the mini van.”

Dropping her off Friday morning at ABC Montessori Pre-School was a whole other story. 

“We drove right up to the door, and her teacher was prepared, had her rain boots on, and came and plucked her right out of the car.”

Heavy rain has turned the school into lakefront property. 

“It’s not fair to kids and the parents,” she says. “Our parking lot is full.” 

Serena Delgado is the director of the school. 

“Even here, if you look at the water, it’s standing,” she says. “I can’t even bring them on the playground.”

Delgado says the canals bordering the school are the root of the problem. 

“The canal is too full,” she says. “Haven’t opened up to be able to have the water go down enough.” 

One of the biggest potential problems is what our cameras spotted not far from the school, an alligator sitting on the shore line.

I went to Michael Dillon, manager of operations at South Indian River Water Control District, for answers. 

He says the canal next to the school, canal 1, has several sources feeding into it causing to run higher than most. 

Dillon says they did open the gates on Monday to let water out, but with the ground already saturated from Hurricane Irma, it only helped so much. 

“When you get 6 and a half inches of rain and 5 and a half inches within a two and half hour period, it’s overwhelms our drainage system,” he says. 

He’s says the canals are draining - slowly. The South Florida Water Management District is also assisting by taking on some drainage. 

If the rain holds off this weekend, he says levels should return back to normal.