Polk County prepares for flooding with sandbags

POINCIANA, Fla. — As the rain keeps falling, there are huge concerns about flooding.

Polk County is providing sand and sandbags at about a dozen of its fire stations.

Channel 9's Lori Brown found out few if any families are taking any preparations in one flood-prone neighborhood.

Rain pounded central Florida on Thursday. The constant onslaught saturated the ground until it could absorb no more water in many places.

"It was crazy this morning," Rogeruic Sylva, who lives in a flood-prone area, said.

The fire department said parts of Poinciana in Polk County are prone to flooding because developers filled in what once was swampland.

Most people in the Coyote and Camel neighborhood don't know about the flood risk.

That's one reason a pile of sand at the fire department on Cypress Parkway had not been touched yet.

The fire department said it wants its firefighters to be rested for emergency calls, so it is up to residents to bring their own shovels. Each family can have 25 to 30 sandbags.

"If it's going to protect me. I have to do it," Sylva said.

An Osceola County spokesperson said the county is not expecting any flooding, and the lakes are at a low level in preparation for the hurricane season.

WFTV