When Hurricane Milton made landfall in Polk County, Florida last night, a mother and her four children (ranging in ages 4 to 11) became trapped by rapidly rising water in their homes.
The mom, Amber Henry, said the family’s refrigerator began to float, at which point, she turned the power off in her house. Then, she and her children sat on an oven and counter to avoid the water.
“I called my mom and said ‘I think me and my children are about to drown to death,’” Henry told WFLA News.
But, in a stroke of luck, the news crew was also nearby, including WFLA’s Beth Rousseau, who spotted Henry signaling for help near a window in a neighbor’s house. The mother had rushed there with her kids, after seeing the water levels were a bit more manageable next door.
“She was terrified,” Rousseau said. “She said the water was rising fast, and she needed to get her babies out.”
Henry said she had already evacuated further inland, hoping to avoid the worst of the storm, but when water began coming in from a window, she knew things were serious. At this point, she called emergency services, but with the increasingly hazardous conditions, first responders could not reach them.
However, the WFLA crew had been driving to an address with reported flooding and got to a road they could not pass, Rousseau said in a broadcast.
“We hopped out to do a live hit, just like we’re doing right now, and that is when we started hearing someone calling for help from a house that water was absolutely inundating,” Rousseau said on camera.
With the help of the news team, and the help of a local samaritan and their car’s headlights, the family found a path out, wading through the water to safety.
“Thank God I looked out the window. I don’t know what told me to look out the window,” Henry said, after the fact in an interview with Rousseau. “But I saw you guys, and you guys came to save us.”
Henry and her children had been sitting in water since 9 p.m. and were unable to flee until around 5 a.m.
Footage from the news crew shows the family walking through knee-high water to safety, guided by headlights and the spotlight Rousseau was using for her news report.
“I was terrified,” Henry said. “I just told them I was scared but we have to have bravery. My children literally prayed, they just prayed.”
Rousseau is also seen on camera helping lift one of Henry’s sons out of the water. The crew then helped the family get into a vehicle, and from there, took them to a nearby shelter.
Henry and her children are now recovering in that shelter, along with countless other community members whose homes were flooded.
She said, “my prayers were answered.”
“We are just thankful they are safe,” Rousseau said.
In the aftermath of the storm this morning, officials say Milton knocked out power to more than 3 million customers and generated 150 tornadoes. At this time, nine deaths have been reported, compounding the devastating loss caused by Hurricane Helene just weeks prior.
More helpers, responders, and agencies are already on the ground helping residents of the area, with more to emerge in the coming hours and days.
Header image courtesy of WFLA News
