"'At least we are alive' - retirement residents

As gushing water from hurricane Milton flooded their Florida apartment, Lidier Rodriguez and Sandra Escalona rushed upstairs to safety - a scene of danger and drama in a normally staid senior living facility.

- 

Hours later, after the powerful storm hit on Wednesday evening, they watched as the same emergency crews who rescued them at their residence - a series of two-storey apartment buildings - helped other older people get out.

The complex is on a low-lying and now flooded street near Tampa Bay on Florida's west coast.

Police and firefighters went from building to building in boats yesterday, helping people get to dry land.