MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — Tropical Storm Debby has dumped so much rainfall in Manatee County, with record numbers of up to 21 inches in some areas, that it has forced officials to release water from the dam to ease the pressure.

On Saturday, county officials said they began releasing water from Lake Manatee Dam. Then on Monday, the county said they released more water beginning at 9:30 a.m., and once again at 11 a.m. and a third time at 2:30 p.m.

According to Manatee County, the average number for Lake Manatee to have in the dam is 44 feet of water, but it was at 48 feet at the peak of the storm.

There was an alert sent out to everyone’s phone, notifying them of the plans.

County officials said if they did not release the thousands of cubic feet of water, it would have been catastrophic.

“Our call center took over 2,200 calls in the last 72 hours. Additional 800 emergency calls and 900 non-emergency calls have been handled by that call center. Our flood management realized that it handled a 100-year flood. This is a 100-year flood that we’ve had this during this storm and our dam at Lake Manatee did its job,” said Manatee County District 4 Commissioner Mike Rahn.

Manatee County officials said as of Tuesday morning, they had made more than 200 rescues for adults, children and pets. And as of Tuesday, the county received more than 2,200 calls from residents dialing 311.

U.S. Senator and former Florida Gov. Rick Scott spoke at a Manatee County Public Safety press conference Tuesday morning.

“Do everything you can to keep your family safe. Don’t take any risk. Don’t run. Don’t drive in standing water. Don’t touch a downed power line. The state’s saturated right now,” he said. “Even before this, the state was saturated. So, we’re going to see a lot more downed trees. Then there’s, unfortunately, going to be hazards out there.”

Of the many families impacted by the excess amount of water leaving the dam, some families say they think their home flooding could have been prevented.

‘Everything was under water’

John Mozina is a Bradenton resident who has lived by the Manatee River for 30 years. He said on Monday night, he, his son and family members saw the water flow into their home, and then saw his neighbors around him also impacted. Their entire area surrounding them has flooded.

Until Mozina’s home is safe again, his two dogs will be temporarily staying with his daughter and grandchildren.

“I’m taking them to a safe place,” he said.

Mozina’s entire driveway was flooded, so the only way to get to his house was by boat.

“It’s heartbreaking. You know, everything you work for in our house and all of our stuff — most of it is ruined,” he said.

Spectrum Bay News 9 took a ride with Mozina on his boat and were several feet above his driveway. He said it is because of the water that was released from Lake Manatee Dam.

“I’ve been dealing with it for 30 years. We have a problem with our dam. No one does nothing about it,” he said.

While he’s lived at his Bradenton home next to the Manatee River for 30 years, he said this is the worst flooding he’s ever experienced.

“Everything was under water,” he said.

It had never seeped into his house until Monday night.

“They put out a notification that they were going to open everything and they had to get rid of the water because they’re worried about the dam breaking. And it wasn’t about 30 minutes after that, it turned 10 times more turbulent coming out the river. And then the water just came up,” he said.

His family estimates it will cost them $20,000 just to repair the walls.

“It came to pass that you couldn’t move things that fast. A lot of it got ruined. Those couches are all sucked up. Ten tons of water last night. And all the foam and everything’s saturated. All you can do is throw it away,” he said.

He doesn’t have insurance, so the cost will come out-of-pocket.

“New furniture, new appliances, new this, that, and the other. It adds up. Especially now, everything’s expensive,” he said. “Life’s got its ups and downs. This is definitely a down, but we’ll come back. I just hope they can do something.”

He’s looking on the bright side of things, hoping this amount of water won’t end up in his home again.