LARGO, Fla. — People who live along Dahlia Place say they've been dealing with flooding for years, and they want the city to take action.

"Twenty minutes of rain, 12 hours to drain," Chris Girard said while displaying a photo of flooding from last week.

Girard said whenever the area sees heavy rainfall, water creeps into the neighborhood and towards homes. He said his garage was flooded just last week.

"We flooded on Tuesday, flooded on Thursday, flooded on Friday," he said of the neighborhood.

Girard said a drainage ditch that runs behind his home is to blame.

"This is ditch number ten, City of Largo," he said. "Has to be maintained for it to work properly.

The city told Spectrum News public works crews have spent two weeks doing just that.

Residents on Dahlia Place say a debris-filled drainage ditch has caused flooding problems in their neighborhood for years. (Spectrum News/Sarah Blazonis)

Communications and Engagement Director Katie Oyer said maintenance was performed along the ditch from 4th Avenue SE to Willow Avenue, and then west to Fulton Avenue. Oyer said crews are also finishing digging out the toe of the ditch to the south of Girard’s home.

But Girard said city crews didn’t get to some areas of the ditch.

The city said the long-term solution is the Starkey Road Basin Best Management Practices Implementation, a separate project funded for the next fiscal year that’s tied to the Starkey Road widening project.

It involves upgrading a culvert on Starkey, but Oyer said any projects upstream could flood a nearby mobile home park if the culvert isn’t replaced first.

In response to a question about the project’s status, Pinellas County Public Information Coordinator Sydney Criteser said via e-mail, “The county and city jointly funded a watershed plan for the area, and the county continues to collaborate with the city as needed.”

She noted the city was addressing the flood issues by cleaning overgrown ditches and went on to say, “At this time, there are no identified county needs, as the drainage improvement area is primarily within the city boundary.”

Girard said residents need a lasting solution sooner rather than later, particularly with peak hurricane season still to come.

“We got three inches of rain on Tuesday - wasn’t a tropical storm or a hurricane. So, what are we going to do when the real weather comes?” he asked.