![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/images-3.webp?resize=300%2C168&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nSince then, time has flown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt seems like it\u2019s been ten years,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Milton\u2019s shadows are still everywhere: throughout her Lakeland neighborhood on Little Lake Bonny, inside and outside her home, and in the back of her mind constantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou know, I\u2019m in therapy for the PTSD, the trauma, everything that\u2019s gone on,\u201d Aldahonda-Ramirez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her home, located directly on the lake, had never flooded before until Milton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It flooded so badly that a boat collided with her home, and she had to escape through the front window with her dog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI can\u2019t even believe I went in and through the water,\u201d she said. \u201cI would never go in that water, and the fact that I actually was in it walking with alligators, who knows where they were.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/download-1-4.webp?resize=300%2C168&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nSix months later, she\u2019s back in the home but still rebuilding it bit by bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s exhausting. It\u2019s expensive. It can feel impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt has a different meaning living here now,\u201d she said while holding back tears. \u201cIt\u2019s not, it\u2019s not what I thought it was going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The worst part is the uncertainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not if I\u2019m going to flood,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s when.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She feels the City of Lakeland can and should do more to lower the lake level and prevent future floods on Lake Bonny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The city has taken some action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In March, the city announced a 90-day emergency agreement with the Southwest Florida Water Management District, which controls lake levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before the agreement, the city could only pump water from Lake Bonny into nearby Lake Parker when Bonny reached a 10-year flood stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new agreement will allow the city to use the emergency pump sooner when Lake Bonny\u2019s flood level is roughly halfway between a normal lake level and the 10-year flood stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The city recently drained the culvert that runs between Lake Bonny and Lake Parker and discovered no obstructions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier this year, the City of Lakeland also commissioned a study of the Lake Bonny flooding to identify causes and possible long-term solutions. According to the study\u2019s timeline, it should be nearing completion in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Aldahonda-Ramirez and others want more answers, solutions, and proof that they matter to the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s extremely hard, but you have to keep going,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Right now, she\u2019s collecting signatures on a petition that asks the city for an \u201cindependent third-party review\u201d of the flooding along Lake Bonny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She plans to deliver the signatures to commissioners at an upcoming meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Advocating for her community while rebuilding her home has become a full-time job for Aldahonda-Ramirez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s insane the process,\u201d she said. \u201cYou would never think that all of this is involved in it after the fact and that nobody is there to give you help or answers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Six months have passed, but Milton still hangs like a cloud over her home and others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cTime flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind.\u201d That quote, attributed to the writer National Hawthorne, sums up what Nicole Aldahonda-Ramirez is feeling six months after Hurricane Milton flooded… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"12","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNVwvMDRcL2Rvd25sb2FkLTEtNC53ZWJwP2ZpdD0zMDAlMkMxNjgmc3NsPTEiLCJ0eHQiOiJTaXggbW9udGhzIHBvc3QtTWlsdG9uLCBMYWtlbGFuZCBmbG9vZCB2aWN0aW1zIHN0aWxsIHdhbnQgcmVsaWVmIGFuZCBhbnN3ZXJzIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJoaWdod2F5IiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.NiRVPOQ2ju3lxp9CeahBg1ff0RrD5M0SQvEqPXao9c4MQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":55128,"url":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/download-1-4.webp","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[11302,11301],"class_list":["post-55126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-lakeland-flood-victims-still-want-relief-and-answers","tag-six-months-post-milton"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55126"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55129,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55126\/revisions\/55129"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}