Florida Floods

Water rushes through two of the three gates on the Lake Manatee Dam in Bradenton, Fla., June 22, 2003. The gate on the right was stuck as workers tried to open it. Emergency officials urged residents to evacuate more than 600 homes downstream as the rising lake, fed by days of rain, threatened to spill over the dam.

A mailbox and a street sign poke out of the water along Rye Road in Bradenton, Fla., during flooding of the Manatee River, June 22, 2003. Emergency officials urged residents to evacuate more than 600 homes downstream from Lake Manatee.

Bradenton, Fla. Fire/Rescue EMT Barry Cornelison carries a dog after rescuing it from a flooded home along the Manatee River, June 22, 2003, in Bradenton, Fla. Emergency officials urged residents to evacuate more than 600 homes downstream from Lake Manatee after a flood gate jammed on a dam for more than 12 hours.

Joy Hall, 74, rests on a cafeteria table at Braden River Middle School after an evacuation of people who live beneath the Manatee County Dam, June 22, 2003, in Bradenton, Fla. Hall is with a group from Missionary Village.

Members of the media gather near the malfunctioning third gate of the Lake Manatee Dam in Bradenton, Fla., June 22, 2003. Emergency officials urged residents to evacuate more than 600 homes downstream.

The Manatee County Sheriff department uses an airboat to make its way down a flooded Rye Road, June 22, 2003, while searching for stranded homeowners in Bradenton, Fla. Hundreds of residents were evacuted from the area of the Manatee River which flooded streets and homes after days of solid rainfall and a malfunctioning dam.

Water rushes from the Lake Manatee Dam in eastern Manatee County near Brandeton, Fla., June 22, 2003. Emergency officials urged the evacuation of more than 600 homes downstream from Lake Manatee after a flood gate jammed on a dam for more than 12 hours. A handful of nearby homes flooded.

Lisa Scherpf, center, and family friend Matt Palmer, right, hop a wire fence while feeding her quarter horses in flooded pasture along Waterline Road in Bradenton, Fla., June 22, 2003.

Water pours from the malfunctioning Lake Manatee Dam in Bradenton, Fla., and down the Manatee River, June 22, 2003. Emergency officials urged residents to evacuate more than 600 homes downstream from Lake Manatee as excess water from the reservoir, swollen by days of torrential rain, gushed through a dam's flood gates.