Peace River expected to crest tonight

Fox - 13 News
14 followers
Nov 5, 2026
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Video Summary
AI GeneratedSevere flooding along the Peace River has submerged roads and businesses, forcing local residents and business owners to evacuate. Jungle Doria's Wildlife Park has successfully moved its diverse animal population to safety, relying on community support and resilience as they wait for water levels to recede.
Well, it may look peaceful, but people living along
the Peace River sure aren't feeling that
way right now. The water's cresting up tonight,
coming up to heights that they've not seen in
years. Our Kimberly Cuisant has
been out there all day talking to locals, doing some canoeing
of her own, trying to navigate that rising water near her homes
and businesses. She joins us live
from Jungle Doria's Wildlife Park. Is that right? How are things there?
Yeah. Well, Mark, if you can see behind me, it's basically a river.
I'm going to go ahead and turn around my cell phone so you can see.
So this is the road leading up.
You can see the water stretching up here.
I need to mention that also Up Water Adventures is over here as well.
They do like buggy tours.
Boat tours, big fans of FOX 13,
they said to say hi to Paul, but you can see right here
the water is just all around them.
And Jungle Doria's Wildlife Park.
Has had to work the last several days to get their animals out
from alligators to mules, horses, bulls, and pigs, including capybaras.
The Doria's have more than a decade of experience with animals,
and they've been working to move them
to their higher ground and out of floodwater.
It's been a big task and they say the one good thing
in all of this is that the community
has really come together to support them, to help them.
I've seen these in other parts of DeSoto and Arcadia as well.
And right now they're waiting for the water
to go down to get back to work and to eventually
open their doors back up to the public.
It's hard to see but at the same time,
we are very resilient people and I know that we'll bounce
back. Everyone has been very helpful
in the community letting us know like, hey,
as soon as the water recedes,
they're gonna be there ready to help us. So
we will definitely have a big volunteer day planned here soon.
What was it like taking all the animals?
Are they all at your house or are they in different
Different areas.
They're spread through three different locations.
We have most of the small mammals and birds with us here.
We have the cattle, goats and emus on our ranch property,
which is much further inland and away from the river.
And then all of the small reptiles are stored in the second story of
the gift shop at the Doria's.
Yeah, and I can tell you that second story gift shop
is far out of the water and out of the reach
of the water. So this has been a dream
of the Doria's to open up a park like this.
And what they're saying is they're hopeful that by Tuesday,
the water will go down and they'll
be able to start moving animals back.
And hopefully by sometime next week, they'll be back open.
They say to check out their social media pages.
Yeah.
for Upriver Adventures as well.
So you can find out all the latest,
but tonight residents are hopeful
that this water will start to go down.
It'll just be a few days till it goes away altogether.
Mark, back to you.
A couple of things.
The cap and burr is just precious.
Paul sends his best, by the way.
Tell the Dorias that Paul says hello
and he wishes he could do something about that water.
But wow, Tuesday, they're looking at a long, wet weekend.
Yeah.
I know, so definitely a couple of days here.
I'm sorry, I can't hear you so well,
because there's a couple of big trucks going through.
That capybara's name, by the way,
is Nugget. And I hope I'm saying it right,
because I know my nine-year-old loves them so much.
But yeah, definitely by Tuesday, mid of next week,
people can start to come out here. And hopefully,
they'll have a party organized as well,
a big cleanup party that people can partake in.
Well, all right. Well, we wish the Dorians and Nugget all the best,
and hopefully they're
going to be just fine. Looks like they are so far.
Kim Creason live for us tonight. Kim, thanks so much.
