The storm had passed, but the water kept rising. In September 2017, Hurricane Irma slammed into Florida, causing tides to surge and dumping about a foot of water across much of the state. A few days later, Jane Blais stood on a bridge with her neighbors near her High Springs ranch, watching the Santa Fe River below swell higher and higher.
“We had zero notice,” Blais said, recalling how she ran home to evacuate the tenants of a small cluster of apartments she owned and move her horses to higher ground. “It came in so fast, completely abnormal.”
By the end of the day, Blais’ rental units were soaking in 3 feet of floodwater, and her horses — despite her best efforts — were submerged chest-deep. Her darkest moment came when veterinarians at a nearby university warned that her horses might die. As the water rose and the hours dragged on, she considered shooting them to spare them from drowning or disease. Around her, neighbors reported destroyed homes, lost belongings, and an unrecognizable landscape.
