Butler County resident Nicole Collins helped rescue crews carry her five dogs and what little belongings she could fit into a suitcase out her front door to safety as Black River poured over the levee just a stone's throw from her house on County Road 607.
"The water's rising pretty fast and when I heard Clearwater was going to go over, we figured it was time to go," she said.
Riding through flood waters on the front of the Butler County Fire Protection District's truck with her dog, Rudy, Collins said she's doing okay.
"This is my third time going through this, 2008, 2011, and now," she said. "But this time is a lot worse."
County fire crews had already spoken with Collins about 4 a.m. Monday when she called in on behalf of her neighbors, who have small children, including an infant. Collins said she was concerned about their safety and the swiftly rising waters motivated her to call for help.
At the time, rescue crews recommended Collins and her roommate evacuate, but she wasn't ready to give in just yet, she said.
As the fire truck slowly passed her neighbors' homes, Collins waved to the occasional holdout hoping to stick it out to the end. She also reminisced about the last time the folks of County Road 607 watched the river flow into their lives.
"The man who lived in that house was in his 70s and he wouldn't leave. He moved his recliner onto the front porch and shot at the snakes swimming around," Collins said.
County fire crews responded to nearly a dozen calls yesterday to rescue folks with similar stories to Collins; folks who have been through this too many times in the past nine years. By this morning, crews had carried about 10 people to safety, three of whom were rescued from a vehicle that washed off the roadway around 9 p.m. Monday.
Shift Commander Bryan Burns and firefighters Dustin Graves and Daniel Parks launched a rescue boat into the waters along Highway 53 in an effort to reach county residents without access to a safe way out.
The men knocked on doors alerting folks of a levee break and offering rides to dry land.
"The water's rising fast," Burns said to a man opting to walk his way to a relative's vehicle parked at the end of a nearby road. "Be careful, buddy."
After 10 p.m. Monday, things calmed down for the county fire crews, but Tuesday is expected to be worse.
"We'll see folks (today) who tried to hold out, but now they've got water in their homes and they've changed their minds,' Burns said. "We'll be busy. This is far from over.'