A very pregnant woman from North Carolina claims to have survived Hurricane Helene’s deadly floodwaters by clinging to a mattress with her dog for nearly eight hours.
Emily Russell, who is due to give birth in just a few weeks, was detained inside her childhood home in Swannanoa for hours on Friday, with no idea if aid was on its way — and as water levels continued to climb.
“I really thought I was going to drown in my own house,” Russell told WXII 12.
“It was literally like you were stuck on an island,” Russell said of the rising water, which eventually inundated her home completely. “I just didn’t know what to do. There was no leaving the house at that point.”
The swiftly rising floodwaters prompted Russell and her dog to crawl on top of a floating mattress inside the house, where they remained for nearly eight hours, hoping to be rescued.
The expecting mother watched automobiles and RVs pass by her house via a window and then heard a portion of her house collapse into the rushing waters.
“When you start hearing that, it’s almost like a movie. And then the front door, the water pushed it in and it pushes in the backdoor. Within 30 seconds, it was from the ground to neck level,” she said.
Russell claimed to have experienced practically every emotion during the terrible eight hours she and her dog spent floating on the mattress.
“You go from the scariest feeling to almost peaceful because you were already so scared and your body’s getting cold from being in the water,” Russell said.
Fortunately for Russell, her husband David was able to contact her at 6 p.m.
“The minute I seen him, I just thought ‘This is my only chance to get out.’ So me and the dog took off down the front yard, but the currents were so strong that I only made it about 10 feet. I had to yell to them ‘I can’t walk anymore or it’s gonna take me.’” she said.
Russell, who is unsure whether she and her husband will be able to return to work after the storm, considers herself fortunate simply to be alive.
“It hits hard,” she explained. “That’s how deadly this whole thing was.”
