MIAMI — For Darwing Silva, the first sign that something was amiss when his flight landed in Jacksonville, Fla., during a thunderstorm late on Friday was that it seemed the jet did not brake after hitting the runway.

Lights zoomed by the window. He traded worried glances with other passengers.

Then came the jolt.

“It was just the biggest impact I’ve ever felt in my life,” Mr. Silva said on Saturday. “Like an explosion, almost.”

He lurched forward in his seat — 14B, the middle seat in an exit row — and hit his head on the seatback in front of him.

Seconds later, Mr. Silva felt water. “Up to my ankles,” he said. “And there was water coming in from above the roof of the plane.”