JONESBOROUGH, Tenn. — Vicki Hunter couldn’t understand the giant trees rushing toward the porch of her one-story home.
She looked at them in bewilderment as the water rushed over her pasture and began to flood the property. She yelled at her husband, Jerry, to get dressed in case they had to evacuate.
By the time he did, their cars were flooded and they could not flee. Rescue crews in boats tried to reach the house, but were unable to.
“One minute I’m baking cookies; The next minute I’m fighting for my life and my whole life is turned upside down,” Vicki said Thursday.
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Jerry had been standing on the back porch on Friday when the foundation gave way and the house suddenly began to float.
Vicki, who had been standing at the front of the house, was knocked over and thrown into the water as it began to collapse.
She later learned from her rescuers that Jerry had jumped into the water at some point during the ordeal.
When they asked her if her husband could swim, she said, “About as good as he can dance.”
“He went inside and never came back up,” she said. “He was my soulmate. I just loved him so much. I want him here. I want him to be with me.”
Vicki floated her destroyed home for about half a mile before it hit some trees. Desperately, she clung to a branch with one hand and her dog, Batman, with the other before losing her grip on his leash.
“The last I saw of him was his little head, and he was trying to paddle doggy style,” she said.
She prayed that someone would save her and everyone else caught in the storm.
She saw a neighbor’s new trailer floating by. A couple whose home was adrift were stunned as Vicki screamed and waved for help. They just closed their door.
“I don’t know if they were praying or what,” Vicki said.
She later learned that the couple’s home floated for another block until it “hit trees and fell apart.”
“They’re still looking for Jim and his wife,” Vicki said of her neighbors.
When rescuers arrived, she begged them to look for her husband.
“We have to save you,” a crew member replied.
Jerry, who did not survive, is one of more than 200 people killed by Hurricane Helene, which tore into the Southeast last week. Hopes that survivors will be found are quickly fading and many isolated communities remain cut off from aid.
Vicki said her family didn’t know if she had survived 36 hours after the storm hit Jonesborough.
Her sister, whom she called just before her house fell off its foundation, watched in horror as a video surfaced online of Vicki standing alone on the porch as the house floated away.
“Until you’ve lost a loved one, until you’re fished out of the water and all you have on are pants, a pair of rubber boots that did nothing for you, until you get out of the water and all you have is water whatever is on your back, be grateful for everything you have,” she said. “Be grateful that you are alive.”
Marissa Parra reported from Jonesborough and Alicia Victoria Lozano from Los Angeles.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
