PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — The dangerous floodwaters that occurred throughout much of Port St. Lucie on Monday night were down to a trickle in most of the city grates Tuesday.
However, the impact was still fresh in the minds of many residents like JD Lookadoo, a Country Club Estates homeowner.
"What was so impressive was just how intense the rain was," Lookadoo said. "And of course, we were watching the TV, and we were watching the tornado warnings and it kind of ramped everything up. It's like wow, this was quite a storm."
Five inches of rain was reported Monday night in Port St. Lucie, which was enough for Lookadoo to document the occasion.
"I was watching your channel, of course, that's why I sent you the pictures," Lookadoo said.
The rain was hard to believe for Treasure Coast tow truck drivers like Dan Hill of Apex Towing. He said he only got one hour of sleep Monday night between his 30 jobs.
"Well, it was just torrential rain and Savona and California [boulevards] was a swimming pool," Hill said. "I've lived here my whole life, and I've never seen it like that. That was a lot of rain in like two hours."
Hill said the smartest thing drivers can do during flood conditions is to turn around.
While Lookadoo was at home Monday night surrounded by water, he said he was reminded of the same concerns that he's raised before to the St. Lucie West Services District.
"They've had somebody come out and look and had someone attempt to fix it, but obviously it's not fixed," Lookadoo said. "As you can see there was water between these two houses. The street was 3 feet deep so obviously it's not done. The work's not done."
WPTV contacted the St. Lucie West Services District after the flooding.
District Manager, Bill Hayden said the issue Monday night was caused by oak tree leaves covering grates. Hayden did say they had a crew consisting of at least three or four people out all Monday night clearing grates.
