<figure><figcaption> Cynthia Slater, 68, stands on sandbags leftover from Hurricane Ian, which flooded her home along with her neighbors with 3 feet of water. Slater has had her home flooded and gutted four times in 20 years after four separate storm events. She lives in Midtown, a neighborhood in Daytona Beach built about 30 years ago as affordable housing for first-time homeowners. However, residents, like Slater, have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs. After Hurricane Ian flooded the neighborhood in 2022, Slater went to the Daytona Beach City Council meeting demanding change and better protections.(Joe Mario Pedersen / Central Florida Public Media)</figcaption></figure>

Water was seeping in under Cynthia Slater’s Daytona Beach front door. It was 2022, and Hurricane Ian had already flooded the streets of her Midtown neighborhood. She had planned to stay, but it only took about 60 minutes for the flood waters to inch their way from the road to her door...

Slater, 68, knew she had to go. She had abandoned her home to water three times before.

“I had to wade out, get in my car. And I had to drive across the neighbor's lawn because I couldn't drive in the street,” she said.

Slater said she returned home two days later. Her living room was 3 feet underwater. She was greeted by a sickening wet smell wafting through her living room and knew that mold was on its way…

“Here we go again,” she said looking at her ruined home.

She knew the drill. Slater began moving everything out. She bought fans to begin the drying process and called contractors to begin gutting the walls.

<figure><figcaption>Cynthia Slater's home after Hurricane Ian brought 3-feet of water inside. Slater said she still remembers coming home after the storm and a sickening wet smell greeting her inside. It wasn't quite mold, yet. But she knew mold was soon to come. (Cynthia Slater)</figcaption></figure>

Ian marked the fourth hurricane in 20 years that brought Slater’shouse to ruin. The first was Hurricane Charley in 2004 and then Matthew in 2016 followed by Hurricane Irma in 2017.,

“It was like back to back,” she said. “I can't take this anymore.”

Slater has lived in Daytona Beach all her life and has noticed the flooding getting worse. Even without a hurricane, she said a strong rainstorm would flood her road.

Daytona Beach is an example of a local municipality facing a Sisyphean hill to climb when preparing for the next big storm.

“The greatest challenge to local governments comes from rapidly changing flood risk profiles,” said Kelly Kibler, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Central Florida.

Local governments are spending millions of dollars to better meet flood challenges. However, preparing for another Hurricane Ian isn’t viewed as economically wise as experts estimate the cost of preparations would far outweigh the economic benefit. That line of thinking is based on the way historical storm patterns impact a geographic area. However, as powerful storms become more frequent, the government's reliance on historical storm data to control the level of flood mitigation is being called into question.

“It’s the definition of insanity”

A week after Ian, Slater went to a Daytona Beach City Council meeting. During public comment, She approached the dias and laid out before the council four pairs of wading boots.

“These are all of the boots that I had to purchase because of all of the (20) years of flooding,” Slater said. “I refuse to continue to invest in a home where as soon as it is repaired, two months, one year, two years down the road, we're flooded again and again and again.”

Video of this meeting shows the city council silently nodding in agreement.

“It's the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over and over again and getting the same results if we fix our homes,” Slater said.

<figure><figcaption> Cynthia Slater, 68, speaking at the Daytona Beach City Council meeting a week after Hurricane Ian flooded her Midtown home. On her right, are four pairs of wading boots. Slater bought each pair after a storm flooded out her home, which has happened four times in less than 20 years.(City of Daytona Beach )</figcaption></figure>

Today Slater’s home looks fine. She has new furniture and the walls have been replaced. You can hardly tell it was destroyed by a flood, but her retirement account shows the scars. After insurance and FEMA paid $75,000, Slater had to dip into her retirement account for an extra $15,000 to cover the rest. In nearly 20 years, Slater has put in about half a million dollars into repairs of her home.

Insurance and FEMA have helped, but it was never enough to cover all the damages. In the wake of Ian, Slater is left with a thought. If stronger storms are getting more frequent, why is she putting money toward repairs, instead of the city investing in improved flood mitigation?

Midtown was just swamp and trees when Slater was a kid in the 50s. She is the youngest of seven children. Her dad worked as a carpenter and her mom a maid. Slater would travel with her for work on the beachside.

It didn’t flood much back then, Slater said. A notable exception was 1960’s Hurricane Donna – a major storm when it hit the tip of the Florida peninsula. It ripped its way north and past Daytona Beach as a Category 1 storm.

“It was fun because when it rained, you know we didn't have school. There was water in the street that we played in,” Slater said with a nostalgic smile. “But I don't ever remember the houses flooding.”

These days floods aren’t fun. Slater, as the local NAACP president, helps her neighbors navigate Hurricane Ian relief funding.

Many of her neighbors in Midtown have also gone through repeated disasters. Daytona Beach Mayor Derrick Henry’s brother lived in Midtown and weathered two hurricane floodings in the last 10 years.

<figure><figcaption> Cynthia Slater, 68, cleared out her home's furniture after 2022 Hurricane Ian. About 3-feet of water entered her home ruining all her furniture. She recalls the woods inside had swollen up. Slater bought fans to dry the inside and called contractors to begin gutting her house.(Cynthia Slater)</figcaption></figure>

“I know the pain that (Slater) experiences, is not hyperbole or overstated. It is accurate and resonates deeply,” Henry said.

Henry has served as Daytona Beach’s mayor since 2012. He’s been dealing with the flood conversation since taking office.

He too has noticed the problem getting worse with more frequent powerful storms.

“The flood mitigation is the greatest issue of my political life,” he said.

Henry made a similar statement in 2014.

“It’s certainly at the top of my agenda. We accept that it’s our responsibility to make sure it doesn’t happen again, so we have more work to do,” he told the Daytona Beach News Journal after Midtown residents were dealing with another flooding from a strong thunderstorm.

Henry said that Midtown, in particular, faces troubles due to its geography.

“It's the lowest area of the city. It's like a bowl,” he said.

The Midtown neighborhood was built as affordable housing for first-time home buyers. S