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Ruskin, Florida -- Several homes were still surrounded Wednesday morning by the burgeoning Little Manatee River.
Debby's deluge dumped so much water, it pushed the river about five feet above its flood stage of 11 feet. The National Weather Service lists its highest point as 16.99 feet on Tuesday morning.
The downward trend is expected to continue throughout the day as the Tampa Bay area dries up.
While some folks are still in their homes, most are staying dry because their homes are built on stilts. They've been through this before.
Robin Williams, who has lived along the river for 20 years says the last time she saw the river swell this high was during Gabriel in 2001 when the crests reached 19.93 feet.
Most people along the impacted areas of 42nd Avenue SE and 33rd Street SE remained in their homes, refusing to evacuate.
"A lot of people did stay, got generators going, there was a lot of left," said Williams who stayed at a friends house last night, "Last night was a little scary because it got a little high and they were talking about high tide yesterday afternoon and they turned the lights off, once they turn the lights off and you can't sit, have a refrigerator, have a TV, you're out of there."
She and her neighbors went out on their pontoon boat this morning to check in on those who stayed put. She says there hasn't been any help from outside of the neighborhood.
"We're troopers, you'd be surprised how one person helps the other person and that's what we did. We got one pontoon boat running, everybody that needed something, who needed to get animals out, get paperwork out," she told 10 News.
One man was spotted making the best out of the situation, fishing off of his front porch.
"People say, 'Why do you live out here?' Ninety-nine percent of the time it's paradise. One percent of the time it's hell. I love it," smiled Williams.