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EVERGLADES CITY — In Everglades City, Tropical Storm Fay brought more pleasure than pain. At least for the kids and dogs.

Puddles of rippling water became a wading pool for Camden Koeppen, 2, and his sister, Lillian Koeppen, 1, who danced and splashed while wearing only diapers outside their home on North Copeland Avenue. Their mother, Dreann Smallwood, 22, an eighth-generation Everglades City resident, watched them from her front step.

“That’s all they wanted to do was come out and play in it,” Smallwood said.

With the help of a frying pan, Carlos Valdes, 48, emptied eight inches of water from the S.S. Kakaw, a friend’s boat across the street from Smallwood and her children. Valdes wanted to give his two daughters, Adelina Martinez, 3, Alicia Martinez, 10, and his granddaughter, Angelica Perez, a ride.

Using a four-wheeler to tow the boat, the three girls enjoyed a ride down North Copeland Avenue.

“This is what’s fun about it when you get a flood,” Valdes said.

Everglades City Mayor Sammy Hamilton Jr. said flood waters reached 2 1/2 feet at some points in the city and estimated early damage to the city’s water and sewer plant at $60,000. Three or four homes flooded, Hamilton added.

Main streets in Chokoloskee and Plantation Island remained flood free.

In the early morning, when waters were at their highest, Leebo Noble, 41, took his 12-year-old Jack Russell Terrier, Buster, out for a run. Buster waded into the bloated boundaries of Chokoloskee Bay and came back with a surprise: a six-inch black rat.

“Buster, that’s a good boy!” Noble said.