ATLANTA — A woman whose family had a floodwater rescue they probably never dreamed they'd need on Friday in the wake of Helene said she was just thankful for the first responders who gave them a lift to dry land.
"They were very impressive," Maggie, an elementary school teacher, told 11Alive's Liza Lucas. "Calm, professional, and we are so thankful they're here."
Areas of north Atlanta, in particular Buckhead, were inundated as Helene brought heavy rains to the region in the overnight hours. Maggie's neighborhood of Hanover West, a bit to the southwest of Buckhead, was among those that became flooded.
You can see video of the rescue below:
"I fell asleep for a few hours around 2:30 (a.m.) or 3 and I really thought it (water level) was going down at that point," Maggie said. "And so I was shocked when I got up again at about 5:30, 5:45 and saw that it was really getting closer to the house."
She said her house's crawl space and garage flooded and that there was also some flooding in a back sun room. She kept a positive attitude about the situation, saying her daughter had gotten excited messages from friends who saw her on the news.
"We'll be heading to my mom's soon with lots of food and hopefully rest, so we can all kind of decompress," she said.
She said she was also thankful for the neighborhood around her.
"We have the best neighbors, and we've had people from all over the area sending messages - many I haven't got a chance to reply to - but yeah, our neighbors took really good care of us, and they always do," she said. "This is a great community, so we're very thankful for that."