Residents in central Florida donned fishing waders, boots and bug spray and canoed or kayaked to their homes on streets where floodwaters continued rising Sunday despite it being four days since tore through the state.
The waters flooded homes and streets that had been passable just a day or two earlier.
Ben Bertat found 4 inches (10 centimeters) of water in his house by Lake Harney off North Jungle Street in a rural part of Seminole County, north of Orlando, after kayaking to it Sunday morning. Only a day earlier, there had been no water.
READ MORE: Climate change makes storms like Ian more common
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 going to get worse because all of this water has to get to the lake鈥� said Bertat, pointing to the water flooding the road. 鈥淲ith ground saturation, all this swamp is full and it just can鈥檛 take any more water. It doesn鈥檛 look like it鈥檚 getting any lower.鈥�
Gabriel Madlang kayaked through 3 feet (1 meter) of water on his street, delivering sandbags to stave off water that was 2 inches (5 centimeters) from entering his home.
鈥淢y home is close to underwater,鈥� Madlang said Sunday morning before paddling to his house. 鈥淩ight now, I鈥檓 just going to sandbag as much as I can and hope and pray.鈥�
Two hours later, his house still was not flooded, and he was retrieving more sandbags to cover the back side of the house.
鈥淲e will see what happens,鈥� he said.
Madlang鈥檚 street was in a flood zone and most of the residents with mortgages on the street of about 30 houses had flood insurance, but several of the residents who had lived there for decades didn鈥檛, Madling said.
Seminole County officials warned residents this weekend that flooding could continue for several days, particularly in areas near the St. Johns River and its tributaries, and said 1,200 residents have been affected by the flooding or other damage from Ian.
鈥淓ven as the rain has stopped, we still have the opportunity for more flooding,鈥� Alan Harris, director of Seminole鈥檚 office for emergency management, said at a news briefing.
Tara Casel has never seen flooding on her street near Lake Harney like she did Sunday morning, despite living through multiple hurricanes. She and her husband used a canoe to get to their house and feared it would have water.
鈥淲e were here last night and it was pretty bad,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut this morning looks worse.鈥�
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This story has been updated to correct the spelling of a resident鈥檚 last name to Madlang, not Madling.
