FORCED TO MOVE ON — Deltona resident Kenneth Velez, at left, recovers belongings from his home on Lyon Street by kayak to take to a hotel where he is staying. At right, Deltona City Commissioner David Sosa surveys the flooded road.
Deltona City Commissioner David Sosa took Beacon writer Al Everson on a two-and-a-half-hour tour of Deltona Oct. 9, in Sosa’s heavy-duty pickup. They were able to reach some of the flooded areas in Deltona, but not all of them.
The worst flooding is in northeast Deltona, but there are pockets of flooding in central Deltona, as well.
City officials said Deltona received between 11 and 15 inches of rain from Hurricane Ian. The water is slow to recede, and some residents fear that Deltona’s efforts to pump water from place to place may make things worse, as water is moved into retention areas that may be nearly full and could run over, causing new flooding.
Hurricane Ian caught Deltona in a vulnerable state: Acting City Manager John Peters had planned to leave the job in November, but the City Commission ousted him Sept. 19, and appointed City Attorney Marsha Segal-George to act as manager temporarily.
On Sept. 19, Segal-George said she would accept the responsibility, but not for longer than two weeks.
Sosa is currently a member of the Deltona City Commission, but will have to resign his post in November because he ran for the District 5 seat on the Volusia County Council.
Sosa was eliminated in the primary in August; candidates Victor Ramos and David Santiago, both of Deltona, are left in the running.
In addition to deciding between Ramos and Santiago for the County Council seat, Deltona-area voters will decide in the Tuesday, Nov. 8, election who will replace Sosa on the Deltona City Commission for the remaining two years of his term: Jody Lee Storozuk or Bill Coakley.
Learn more about all the candidates in our Voters’ Guide.
