ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla — Kenneth Thrower and Asheley Taylor moved into their Davis Shores home in April. Now, they may have to rebuild.
The couple boarded up the doors of their Coquina Avenue house ahead of Hurricane Ian, but the floodwaters found another way in.
"Within 20, 30 minutes it was rising inches," said Thrower about the flooding.
Thrower said water outside their home was chest deep. Inside, two feet deep.
Thrower and Taylor made door dams that held firm, but that's not how the water got in. "It started coming up through the foundation, so the cracks in the wall started bleeding water. The tile was bubbling."
The couple put furniture and valuables on cinderblocks, saving them, including Thrower's record collection. Their pool is brown.
Thrower points out the salt water is corrosive and said they'll have to take out a wall and get the foundation checked.
"It filled up pretty quickly within about an hour," Thrower said. "The street looked like a river. The water was flowing so there was no holding it back."
First Coast News was in the area when Ian hit Thursday and watched Davis Shores flood quickly. Thrower calls it all "surreal."
"I am a Florida native though, so used to storms. But this is far beyond anything I've been through," he said.
Next door to them, a family worked to clean out anther flooded home. One family member told First Coast News the people living there have gone through three hurricanes.