Amber Henry and her four children were rescued from the rising floodwaters that had overwhelmed their Lakeland neighborhood in Polk County Thursday morning. Her rescuers — kind neighbors and a WFLA news crew.
Henry told the outlet, “My prayers were answered.” Henry told the publication that she and her kids sat on a counter and an oven to flee the rising water when her home’s refrigerator began to float.
She went on: “I called my mom and said I think me and my children are about to drown to death.”
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Having run out of options, the distraught woman transferred her kids to a neighbor’s house where the water only reached her knees. From a window, WFLA’s Beth Rousseau saw her calling for assistance.
Rousseau recounted, “She was terrified. She said the water was rising fast, and she needed to get her babies out.”
Despite the mother’s previous 911 call, dangerous conditions prevented emergency personnel from reaching them, so they were left to stay in the water from 9 p.m. until their rescue at 5 a.m. on Thursday.
“I even called officials and they told me it was not a mandatory evacuation, and me and my children would be fine. But that was not the case,” she later explained to CNN.
“I just told them [children] I was scared but we have to have bravery,” the now-relieved mother said, describing how “terrified” she and her kids were during the ordeal. “My children literally prayed; they just prayed.”
The family soon found a way out when a kind Samaritan came by and illuminated the way with the headlights of his car. Wading through the water, the mother and her kids managed to get out of the house safely.
They are currently drying out and recuperating at a shelter.
Many Polk County houses have been impacted by the floods, which locals say is unlike anything they have ever seen. Since then, emergency services have been restored.
