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MELIA BOWIEThe Anclote River is home, but in recent years it often floods, making life miserable for many along part of it in Elfers.
ELFERS - The scene outside Clarence Knaack's home was nothing new.
Frances' watery calling card continued to linger Wednesday, interrupting daily life for Knaack and those like him at more than 100 homes along the Anclote River.
The floodwaters rushed over a makeshift sea wall made of sand bags, reached for bedroom windows, swamped sheds and left mailboxes bobbing in the current like buoys at sea.
Making his way through thigh-high water on Riverrun Road, Knaack, 22, headed for the back stoop of a nearby business off State Road 54. His neighbors already had assembled there for a block party of sorts.
Even the new guy, 26-year-old John Boden, made it. Along with his daughter, Shyann, Boden has weathered three floods and two hurricanes since moving to Elfers just four months ago.
The guys are thinking of buying him a Greyhound bus ticket for his birthday.
But Boden said he won't leave.
"I've got good neighbors," he said. "I don't have to live in a little cubicle apartment."
For now, that is enough.
And so it goes for many in the low-lying area. Some have little money to spare for digs in drier places. Others have grown attached to the land, soggy though it may get.
From the houses and trailer parks on Riverrun Road and Paddle Court to the meandering stilt houses along Elfers Parkway, the river is home.
"I've been here 24 years," said Johnny White, 44, whose property on Elfers Parkway lost three large trees to Frances. "My home's paid for, and it's pretty comfortable around here. I've got 2 acres and a lot of room for my kids to play.
So he makes do.
"Every neighborhood's got its good and its bad," he said.
White's days since Frances are spent ferrying stranded neighbors around on his ATV-turned-water-taxi.
Late Monday night, the river rose quickly, leaving no time to salvage prized possessions. By Tuesday, the Anclote River, which floods at 20 feet, reached more than 23.5 feet before cresting. On Wednesday, it continued to top 23 feet and showed no sign of receding quickly.
"This is the worst I've seen it, and it just keeps getting worse," said White, who for the first time is considering calling the county or even FEMA for help. The river used to flood every three of four years. Then every year. This summer the neighborhood has slipped under water three times.
"We're always on TV," he said. "Other people may flood, but I don't think they flood like we do. This time, I just don't know what to do."
Seventy-six-year-old Victor Torres evacuated. He first moved to Elfers in 1960. On Saturday, he and his son, Victor Jr., left their Riverrun Road home to ride out the storm with friends. Now the Torreses cannot return.
Father and son say the flooding is largely caused by the river, but new strip malls and storm runoff from State Road 54 do not help.
"You can't stop progress, I guess," said Torres Sr., his voice soft.
But the men said it would be nice if progress included fewer power outages, a hookup to the city's water supply instead of well-water contaminated by frequent storms, and more than a drive-by visit from government officials.
Still, "you live in Florida long enough and you've got to pay the price to live here," said Boden.
Frances took a big toll.