HASTINGS, Fla. - Several parts of St. John's County remained under water Tuesday night, including the town of Hastings. Parts of the town were under about 8 feet of water after Hurricane Irma.
As soon as the storm passed, rescue crews fired up the boats and JetSki's and headed out to help people trapped in their homes evacuate.
The water came within inches of creeping into resident Jennifer Dentmon's home.
We spoke to Dentmon and she said she and her family escaped by boat.
"I'm tired," she said. "It's been hard to sleep worrying about the water coming up all the time."
Dentmon, her mom, Victoria D'Agostino, and son are one of many families who were amazed as the damage Hurricane Irma caused in their rural community.
"We usually flood but not this bad," Dentmon said.
Dentmon's mom said county leaders should do more to ease the flooding issue in their community like, cleaning out Deep Creek so that it flows smoothly into the St. John's River.
D'Agostino, however, was pleased with the response of first responders. "We had the National Guard come on Sunday on Jet ski's to see if we were okay," she said.
Two days later, the rescue crews were still there.
"Our operation includes the National Guard, the Coast Guard, as well as some city of St. Augustine firefighters," said Lt. Lucas Smith with St. John's County Fire Rescue.
St. John's County Fire Rescue leads the rescue operation. Lt. Smith says parts of the area is under 6-to-8 feet of water.
As for Dentmon, she and her family said can breathe a sigh of relief.
"Relieved. Especially relieved when it started to show signs of going down," Dentmon said.
