A 17-year-old swam from her flooded home with her dog and waited on a roof for rescue

Updated on August 01, 2022 13:05 PM by Andrew Koschiev

Chloe Adams

Chloe Adams, who was 17 years old at the time, awoke to a nightmare early on Thursday morning. Her home was rapidly becoming surrounded by rushing floods as they emerged from the bathroom drains, bubbled up through the tiles in the kitchen, and spread outward.

Chloe, who has lived in Whitesburg, Kentucky with her grandfather since she was a child, was all by herself with no one else save her reliable companion, Sandy, a dog she's had since she was a young child.

Bravery

She informed the News channel in a message, "There was water as far as I could see." I was having a full-blown panic attack when it happened.

But she was adamant about getting out of there without getting hurt and bringing her dog with her.

The torrential rains and widespread flooding

The torrential rains and widespread flooding that occurred on Thursday in eastern Kentucky resulted in at least 16 deaths, while hundreds of other people lost all they owned, according to the announcement made by the governor on Friday.

Raging seas

Despite being in a house that was only a few feet away, Chloe's grandparents were not able to see their granddaughter because of the raging seas. They screamed over to Chloe, begging her to remain inside until assistance could be brought in.

Chloe explained that she had very little mobile coverage and that the 911 center was probably at capacity and so unable to respond to her calls. As a result, she came to the conclusion that she needed to get out of there in order to survive.

Wading through water

She said, "My next thought was that we needed to swim out to my uncle's house," where the rest of her family was taking cover, and she put Sandy in the water for a moment to test whether she could swim.

However, she was unable to, so I picked her up and carried her back inside while wading through water up to my waist in an effort to find something that she could float on so that I could put her on it.

Chloe's last solution

Chloe placed her dog inside a plastic drawer from her wardrobe in order to keep her dry. She then positioned the drawer on top of a sofa cushion in order to keep her dog floating. This was Chloe's last solution after attempting to use various pieces of furniture.

The risk was mandatory

"I had a strategy that I could finally believe in. might do the trick," she said. "I realized the risks of trying to swim in water that was both deep and moving, but I felt like I had no alternative."

Everything was submerged in the raged water

She pushed Sandy's cushion in front of her as she swam through the chilly waves until she reached the slender roof of a nearby storage building. The roof was the only section of the structure that was not yet submerged.

Chloe's family

There, the two stayed for more than five hours before Chloe's cousin rescued the girl and her dog with the assistance of a kayak. Nearby, Chloe's family was sheltering in the second floor of her uncle's home, where they watched over and talked to her as she waited for help.

The young woman cried

The young woman cried when she got back to her grandmother's house because she was so relieved to learn that both she and her best friend Sandy had made it through the flood.

Horrifying disaster

Chloe continued by saying, "My heart goes out to all of the other people who lost and suffered so much more than I did as a result of this horrifying disaster."

Adams referred to his daughter as a hero

Terry Adams, the teen's father, referred to his daughter as a "hero" in a statement he made on Facebook after the rescue operation.

He wrote that "we lost everything today," with the exception of the things that were most important.