As Southwest Florida homeowners try to get back to normal after last weekend's record rainfall and flooding, the floodwaters are starting to recede in San Carlos Park - one of the worst-hit areas.
On Thursday, Alicia Harrington was back at her mobile home in the America Outdoor Residences, near Alico Road and U.S. 41, to pick up some clothes after being evacuated by firefighters several days earlier.
"The fireman said to me 'when's the last time you had a piggy-back?'" Harrington said. "I said 'what?' He said 'Never mind, I'll carry you out."
She's been staying at a hotel since then, and said the floodwaters got into her home and destroyed some furniture on her lanai.
While streets in her community still have standing water on them, it has gone down substantially in the past few days.
Ray Humphrey was in Tennessee when the heavy rains flooded his home in America Outdoor Residences. He came back to a big mess, and said about 50% of his belongings can't be salvaged.
"All of our furniture will go, and of course the flooring, it'll be replaced," he said. "Everything's out of pocket. We don't have insurance."
Still, he knows others have it worse.
"I saw on TV in Texas, how people lost everything, lost their lives," Humphrey said. "So I feel fortunate."
Pumps are working to get the water out the community into a nearby canal. Roads around in the Island Park area that had been closed due to flooding have been reopened.
