eyes fixed on the canvas roof above them. No sirens. No alerts. Just the slow, steady sound of rain starting again.
Then a seam tore.
The canvas split above their heads. Wind punched through. Water poured in, fast and sideways. The lights flickered and died. Rafael grabbed his son and stood—but the floor was already gone. Just mud, plastic, and feet slipping beneath them.
Guards yelled something outside, but it was lost in the roar.
The tent lifted.
A cot smashed into the fence. The boy screamed. Rafael held tighter, tried to wade—anywhere. But the water was rising, black and thick and full of things that moved.
He shouted for help. Only the storm answered.
Bibliography
1. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Historical Hurricane Tracks . Accessed July 2025. https://coast.noaa.gov/hurricanes.
2. Provides data on past hurricanes in Florida, including frequency, categories, and paths—essential for validating the storm risks described.
3. National Hurricane Center. Tropical Cyclone Climatology . National Weather Service, 2024. https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/climo.
4. Gives statistical likelihood of hurricanes striking specific U.S. regions, including South Florida’s high seasonal risk.
5. Union of Concerned Scientists. Storm Surge and Flood Risk in a Warming Climate . October 2023. https://ucsusa.org/storm-risk.
6. Explains how rising seas and extreme weather disproportionately affect low-lying coastal regions like the Everglades.
7. Florida Division of Emergency Management. Hurricane Evacuation Zones and Flood Maps . Updated 2024. https://www.floridadisaster.org.
8. Maps low-lying evacuation zones and one-road-in, one-road-out areas such as Collier County, supporting the article’s geography.
9. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Everglades Restoration Technical Reports . 2023. https://evergladesrestoration.gov.
10. Details the hydrology and poor drainage of the Everglades, reinforcing the camp’s vulnerability to long-term flooding.
11. Human Rights Watch. “Like I’m Drowning”: Immigration Detention and COVID-19 in the United States. December 2020. https://hrw.org.
12. Documents conditions inside U.S. immigrant detention facilities, including lack of medical care and exposure to environmental dangers.
13. American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The Expansion of Immigrant Detention Under Trump. January 2021. https://aclu.org.