OKEECHOBEE, FL (NBC News) — “If the cattle stay where they are, eventually they’ll die,” said Jim Alderman, of Alderman-Deloney Ranch.

Chopper 5 flew over dead cows as well as trapped cows and calves currently surviving on strips of dry ground.

“They’re running out of dry ground now,” Alderman said.

Alderman said the dike around his ranch, which helps deflect water because the land to the west is 10 feet higher, broke a few days ago following heavy rainfall from Hurricane Irma.

He said the last time the dike broke was in 2004, but there is even more water pouring into his ranch this time.

“It just was an extraordinary thing that we had over 20 inches of rain and all that water coming down and pressure against the dike caused it to break,” he said.