‘I just knew I was going to die’: Woman recounts unbelievable survival as home collapsed

By Karen Zatkulak

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    BAT CAVE, North Carolina (WLOS) — If you meet Paula Masters, be ready for a hug and a laugh.

The 78-year-old grandmother also has an unbelievable strength.

She somehow lived through Helene in her Bat Cave home as it collapsed around her.

“It sounded like all hell broke lose and the whole house, I just knew I was going to die,” said Masters.

Weeks later, it’s hard for Masters to look at these photos of what’s left.

“I don’t know how to describe it, but I know I’ll never live there again,” she said.

It’s also hard for her to understand how she survived. Seeing what’s left of her home now, it’s hard for anyone to understand. The house now sits many feet from its foundation, backwards, and split in two, the roof on the ground.

She remembers the moment that somehow saved her.

“When that water starts rushing in, you always go to the highest point and something stopped me…and if God hadn’t stopped me, I would have been in there and there’s no way I would have lived,” she said.

For hours, she was stuck, as the floodwaters reached up to her neck.

I made it to the end of the hallway and said: ‘Please put me in a safe place God. Give me a safe spot.’ And the doorknob and the floor raised… gave me the space, and the water was rushing in,” she said.

One hand around a doorknob, the other around her Bible, she waited and prayed.

“I just said, ‘God please let me hug my kids one more time, one more time,’ and for some reason, he saw fit to let me live through it and get out of there,” said Masters.

Just before dark, she was finally able to crawl out to safety. Now, she laughs as she explains the reason she believes she survived.

“Always heard God spares old folks and fools, and I qualified for both because I stayed in that house,” said Masters.

She also jokes about how she stayed warm, using a sofa cushion cover as a coat.

“I think I might start a line of upholstered jacket sweaters,” she said.

Her strength stretches beyond her own situation to other victims.

You just have to find the positive. Yes, the house is gone, but you know, we come into this world with nothing, so we can just keep starting over,” she said. She has this to say to the many others grateful for what they have but mourning what they lost.

“Whoever is out there, don’t give up. Keep on keeping on, and keep loving, got to love and try,” she said.

Masters is staying with her daughter for a few months.

She said she’s grateful for her family during this time and hopes to give back to other victims through donations in the future.

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