That's because a nearby creek carrying storm water would get overwhelmed and overflow.

"But, it was fun as a little kid," said Mulligan. "You know, to go swimming in it. I used to look forward to it flooding."

But his days of wading in flood waters are over. Engineers for the city of Gainesville installed a three foot high and seven hundred foot long wall alongside the creek two years ago.

So, now all the neighborhood has to worry about on a rainy day is puddles.

"Before, the water would rush that way and now it rushes that way, hits the wall and then follows the berm out that way and then reconnects to Hogtown creek," said Mulligan.

Gainesville's Engineering Services Manager Stewart Pearson says Mulligan's neighborhood isn't the only area affected by stormwater issues. He says other parts of Gainesville like the College Park area have drainage issues. He says the pipes in that area can only handle about three inches of rain per hour.

"If it gets to be more of a duration that just the one hour, we start having the flooding problems like would allow people to kayak down 34th and University," said Pearson.

Still, Pearson says fixing the issue would be pricey.

"It's not that severe," said Pearson.

Not nearly as severe as the flooding that the wall keeps out of Mulligan's neighborhood.

"I remember when they built that, I said this little wall is not going to do anything because the amount of water was enormous," said Mulligan.

And to Mulligan's surprise so far, so good.