The region continues to see the residual effects of Hurricane Debby despite the rainfall having ended several days ago. Rising rivers and flooded communities remain the chief concern. The situation has forced some county leaders to extend their local state of emergency through to next Thursday.
National Guardsmen approached several homes in Sarasota County where the flood waters were still inches from some doorsteps.
Others went by boat through flooded neighborhoods to offer their assistance.
Several neighbors in local communities are working together to get back to normal. In the Laurel Meadows neighborhood and areas near Palmer Lake, neighbors launched boats, canoes, and kayaks into flood waters to reach their homes and gather some belongings.
"Yeah, it's a mess. Our whole house is all flooded. I don't really know how to describe it. It's just everything, everything just got flooded and we were looking around and we were like there's nothing we can even do," said Paola Piascik, a Laurel Meadows neighbor.
The span of the flooding in Laurel Meadows, a community of more than 100 homes on Lorraine Road in Sarasota seemed endless.
"It was very dirty, the rugs are floating. We actually went with the canoe into the house. That's how high the water was," said Diana Carson, also a Laurel Meadows neighbor.
Several other neighbors were able to get into the development using Humvees, an Army Surplus truck, and swamp buggies. Many of them assisted with shuttling groups of families.
One group of neighbors which included doctor friends who came in to help from Miami began the day by transporting sandbags.
