A pregnant woman and her family were rescued from Hurricane Florence floodwaters after clinging to trees for four hours.
The mother, eight months pregnant, her 4-year-old daughter, 8-year-old son, husband, 60-year-old uncle, and the family dog had been holding onto trees about 100 yards apart from 4 a.m. to around 8 a.m. when they were rescued by the Wild Florida team.
“They had been hanging there for four hours and had started to prepare to die. Accepted the fact that nobody could rescue them! I’m so glad we could make it happen,” the Wild Florida told Reuters about the rescue in Kelly, North Carolina, on Sunday, Sept. 16.
The family, looking shocked but elated, were taped on the ride back to safety huddled under blankets.
Dramatic Rescue
The Wild Florida rescue team responds to most major weather incidents in the United States with airboats to rescue people in need. The Kenansville-based airboat tour company sent a team to North Carolina to help in the aftermath of Florence.“It was pretty emotional. That’s all I can say,” Daniel Munns of Wild Florida, crying, told the broadcaster. “I had to sit in the truck because I was overwhelmed.”
The Wild Florida team initially heard the family’s cries for help in a period when their airboats were turned off. They kept getting closer by turning the airboat off at intervals to track the cries for help.
Obstacles
Thick branches and trees blocked their way, forcing the team to maneuver around and through the obstacles. “Professional rescue teams couldn’t get to them and they thought this was it,” said Jordan Munns of Wild Florida.Kelli Massey, the pregnant woman, said she was thankful to God and her rescuers for being saved, while noting that she was afraid she would go into labor because she was so stressed.
“I wasn’t thinking about anything but holding on to that branch,” she said. “My daughter kept saying she wanted to go home and I kept saying, ‘We gotta hold on.’”
