The storm dissolves the levee road like sand, and the trio must sometimes cross dangerous watery breaks in the dam where lake water rushes through. It takes them two hours to walk half a mile. To conserve batteries, they switch off one headlamp and have the leader wear the live one and call out road conditions. Each clings to the arm of the person in front of them; if the wind picks up one, everyone drops to their knees and huddles. Every 30 minutes, Rashawn stops and bursts into tears, then settles down and continues.

Nicole, in the lead, calls a halt. Ahead is what appears to be a log across the road, but it’s a 13-foot alligator. Surprised the gator hasn’t scuttled off away from their light—poachers use lights to shoot them—the trio walks forward slowly.

On TV, news anchor Richard Krupp talks to reporter Cindy in St. Petersburg, who says that the hurricane has largely missed the city and instead made landfall at Palm Breeze. Its sudden high-speed rush toward land surprised the forecasters. Richard says he’s tried to reach his wife, but the Palm Breeze phone systems are blacked out by the storm.