MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — On Monday, John Edmands put on waders and walked through his neighborhood to make it back to his home.

“Yesterday would have been up to your waist, right where you’re at,” said Edmands as he walked down a flooded street to his home.

The water had gone down to knee level by Monday, but much of the damage had already been done. 

“I didn’t know what to do Saturday night. One o’clock in the morning, I’ve got water coming in the house and I’m bawling my eyes out,” he said.

Inside his home, water has damaged his walls, his floor and his furniture.

“Hopefully insurance takes care of this, maybe the county does something different and hopefully it never happens again, that’d be wonderful,” said Edmands.

Many people in his Centre Lake subdivision suffered similar damage.

William Holliday just moved to Florida in November. Saturday night, he had to call for help from 911 when water started entering his home.

He had little time to pack up and leave.

“The fire department knocked on the door and then we opened the door and they said, ‘Grab your stuff and leave,’ and we just grabbed our stuff and our pets and walked out the front door,” said Holliday.

Jone Fay and her husband Rick took off their shoes and just waded into the water to make it to their home in the neighborhood to look at the damage and salvage what they could.

“We’re just coming back to see if we can at least get the meat out of the freezer or that kind of stuff, whatever we can do right now,” said Fay.

As neighbors tried to figure out how bad things are, heavy rains hit the neighborhood Monday afternoon, causing concern that the worst may be yet to come.

John Edmands did his best to maintain a positive outlook.

“I’m safe, my wife is safe, the animals are safe. Okay and we’re going to make it,” said Edmands.

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