, Fla. — Lake County says they’ve now got a timeline for reopening Wolf Branch Road and are making progress on other roads impacted by recent washouts.
According to the county, about 19 inches of rain fell and caused a gaping ten-foot gully on Wolf Branch Road near Timber Lake Drive.
County Commission Chairwoman Leslie Campione said the improvements on Wolf Branch Road are slated to cost about $600,000 and emergency funds will be used for the repairs.
Campione said the goal is to build a more resilient road, since the same stretch of Wolf Branch Road also washed out in 2024 after Hurricane Milton.
“We’re enhancing the sides, we’re enhancing the ability for water to go under the road as well as water to go over the road,” said Campione.
The county hopes to have Wolf Branch Road reopened in about a month, though that timeline is dependent on the weather and other work that must be completed by gas and power companies first.
Luana Folse is one of several residents in the Wolf Branch Estates, a subdivision less than half-a-mile away from the wash-out. She’s having to navigate around the second washout here in less than two-years.
“During Milton, the road caved in. During this storm, the road caved-in,” said Folse, “What are they doing differently this time around that they didn’t do last time?”
Campione said in the rebuild this time, the road will be raised 12 to 18 inches and a culvert system will be installed under the road to better handle stormwater runoff.
The county said they are making repair decisions based off a hydrogeological study completed after Milton which looked at the topography of the stormwater basin and how runoff flows downstream.
According to the county, their goal is to ensure natural drainage patterns are maintained while protecting residents’ safety and preventing property damage. A spokesperson for the county said that will require ongoing implementation of a variety of engineering strategies to enhance stormwater retention and conveyance.
Campione said, “The Lake County Commission has been unanimously committed to seeing through the full implementation of comprehensive improvements in this basin, but the completion of a project of this significance requires coordination with and approval of State and Federal agencies.”
For homeowners in the Wolf Branch estates, improvements to the basin overall can’t come soon enough.
“We’re trying to figure out how to protect our property for in the future because if it’s happened two times now in a little over a year, it’d be foolish not to prepare ourselves,” said Folse.
While her home didn’t flood during last week’s flash flood, she recalls the water flowing into her community from neighborhoods at higher elevations after Hurricane Milton.
Folse believes a moratorium on development is needed until more infrastructure concerns can be ironed out.
According to the county, in the aftermath of Milton, officials did install a retention pond on Wolf Branch Road near Round Lake Road that was meant to alleviate flooding.
A county spokesperson said they worked to acquire the property from a homeowner after Milton and constructed the pond with more work to follow.
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