Family recounts harrowing escape from rising floodwaters during Helene

By Taylor Thompson

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    SWANNANOA, North Carolina (WLOS) — It has now been three weeks since Hurricane Helene devastated Western North Carolina, and News 13 spoke with one Swannanoa family who barely escaped from their home during the storm.

On most days, their neighborhood is a peaceful street. But on the morning of Friday, Sept. 27, everything changed.

Michael Burgin and his son Tony were inside the home with his partner Annie and their pets. Michael said he looked out the window and saw that water was already halfway up his car.

“I mean, we knew it was going to be a lot of rain, but I don’t think either of us expected this bad,” Tony said.

It all happened so fast and they quickly realized evacuation was not an option as the water began coming through their floorboards.

“I couldn’t get ahold of 911 at that point, so I texted my friends to try to get in touch with 911 or to get somebody that could try to help. By the time I was done sending that text, the water was up to my knees,” Tony said. They tried to put valuables and medications on high surfaces but soon it did not matter.

Within 15 minutes, they were all in the attic.

“It was crazy that it was as high as it was. It didn’t seem possible that it could reach the attic, but then the water just kept coming,” Michael said.

They tried to use furniture that they had brought up to the attic to bust through but there was no luck, leading them to the only option of retreating back down.

They had to swim through the cold and muddy waters that had risen to the door frames.

They made it to their mudroom where they realized their best shot was to try and get through a window.

Tony was able to get the window open and the three were able to swim to the roof, but they had to leave their pets behind in the attic.

“I broke down because I thought we were going to have to live with the fact that all our pets were going to drown in the attic,” Tony said.

But as they were up on the roof, they saw a woman paddling towards them in a kayak.

Michael yelled for an axe to be able to break through his roof to get their pets. Soon, another kayak showed up with the needed axe.

He began to chop through his roof until he was able to make a hole big enough for Tony to fit through.

Tony went down into the attic and handed the dogs up to Michael.

Unfortunately, he was not able to get their cats, but Michael said there have been signs that the cats made it through and they are continuing to search for them.

The three and their dogs waited on the roof for what felt like hours until more neighbors showed up on kayaks and took them one by one to higher ground.

“They had a whole buddy system of people who were pulling us up,” he said.

Looking back, Michael said there were many points where they were not sure if they were going to make it.

As they were attempting to get the window open, Michael said he was going to give it 10 more seconds before they retreated back up to the attic. Thankfully, when he had counted to six, Tony had gotten the window open.

“It started feeling like, ‘Wow, we might not actually make it out of this.’ I think if we did it 10 times again, we’re not making it out of this,” they said.

If they have learned anything in these three weeks, Tony said it is how quickly everything in someone’s life can be taken away.

“I’m trying to not worry about the things that I have but really appreciate it ’cause I don’t know when I’m going to lose it,” he said.

Michael said that the real heroes through all of this were their neighbors who truly saved their lives, and he’s especially thankful for his son.

“I was not able to get the window open, you know. I don’t know what would have happened if he wasn’t here to get the window open,” he said.

There are multiple GoFundMe pages set up to help Michael and his family through their recovery efforts.

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