FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Alida Augustine stepped into the front yard in a pink house dress and a hair wrap Thursday afternoon, eager to tell Broward’s mayor and the team of government officials at her doorstep about the damage to her home of 30 years.
A week after the flood submerged the Melrose Park neighborhood under several feet of water, Augustine’s street was clear, the sun was out, and the air was cool and dry. But the interior of her home tells a different story: The roof is leaking and mold is growing, Augustine said. One of the rooms in the house is piled high with ruined “stuff,” and it reeks.
“I don’t go to that room. I’m scared to touch it,” she told The South Florida Sun Sentinel, lingering outside as the group of officials began to move on to her neighbors’ homes. As they walked away, she called, “Are you coming back?”
