Peace River keeps rising, displacing residents

ARCADIA, Fla. - The worst of Hurricane Irma is the flooding in some local communities.

The Peace River is out of its banks in Arcadia. Residents there say they were expecting the Peace River to crest 17.8 feet. But Irma had a surprise for them.

The storm and the flood brought a double whammy at the Peace River Campground.

“The storm kind of scared me more than the flood and then the flood kept coming and coming. And coming," resident Don Boyce said.

Coming up and up, at least a foot more than anyone expected. The river was supposed to crest at 17.8 feet. The gauge broke at 20 and rising.

Kim Gill lives there full-time and her canoe comes in very handy now.

“What's it been like? Wet,” she described. “We have 14 inches in the living room."

The family that owns the park has seen flooding four times previously, but never like this. 

“That much water in my TV room and about a foot and a half in the camper. But we happen to have a motor home so we made it," Summer Lempenau said.

Lempenau’s “Florida Strong” t-shirt will get some more writing.

"I think I'm going to put something on the back, ‘I survived Hurricane Irma and Peace River flood 2017,’” she joked.

The good news is, everyone got out safely when the peace river took over.

“We [will] rebuild, this is my home, I'm not leaving," she said.

The good news is they didn't have the wind damage they did with Charlie, but they'll have to wait for the water to recede to see just how much damage Irma left behind.