Heavy downpours on Monday triggered unprecedented flash flooding across eastern Florida, submerging streets in the Turtle Creek neighborhood of Palm Bay and trapping elderly and disabled residents in their homes.
Rick Addante, who lives in Turtle Creek, said several of his neighbors were elderly, sick or had limited mobility and could not evacuate on their own as water levels climbed.
“Nobody expected this to happen,” Addante said. “All of a sudden, everything just started rising so quickly, and the streets started filling up.”
He said that every time the water seemed to reach its peak, it rose even higher. “It became really clear how serious it was going to become,” Addante said.
Two neighbors were of particular concern: an 80-year-old man named Terry, who lives alone with his dog and recently underwent open-heart surgery, and a man with progressive Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) who could not evacuate with his family because he relies on a motorized wheelchair.
“Both of them were in kind of dire straits,” Addante said, describing how he moved repeatedly between houses to check on the two men as conditions worsened.
Addante and other neighbors banded together to monitor the men while they waited for help. He said water began pouring into swimming pools and backyards from a seawall behind the homes, adding urgency to the situation.
As water inside Terry’s house reached knee height, Addante helped get him and his dog, Bella, ready to leave. In a social media post, Addante wrote that he worked with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to rescue his 80-year-old neighbor, who was recovering from a heart bypass, adding that airboats were “doing big work” and “everybody” was “pitching in.”
After moving back and forth between Terry’s home, the other neighbor’s house and his own, Addante and the others began hearing airboats approaching the neighborhood. Addante, Terry and Bella waited with their belongings until FWC airboats arrived.
Video shared by Addante shows him and FWC officers carrying out Terry and Bella, who was frightened by the noise of the airboat. By that point, trash cans were floating down the flooded streets and water levels neared the tops of mailboxes.
Addante and the rescue crew got Terry aboard an airboat, secured him and brought him to safety, where he was able to dry off, warm up and reconnect with his family.
Other rescuers then moved to the next house to evacuate the neighbor with ALS along with his wife and daughter. Additional video shows Addante assisting with evacuations and coordinating with FWC personnel throughout the effort.
FWC teams continued rescuing residents trapped in their homes. Addante said he later learned of a house where three people were stranded on a second floor because of the flooding; after confirming they were inside, FWC crews responded.
While Addante helped with the rescues, other neighbors checked on his family, getting generators running and looking after his wife and children.
“It really was a big team effort of a lot of people from a lot of churches, and neighbors who came together,” Addante said, adding that he was grateful to his neighbors and that they deserved equal credit for the effort.
A day later, floodwaters have receded, but the cleanup has begun, with residents already tearing out damaged flooring and carpets from their homes.
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