Joni Gaddy was rescued from her North Carolina home on Tuesday by her son and nephew after alligators and floodwaters surrounded it during Hurricane Matthew.
The Lumberton, North Carolina, homeowner had been trapped inside her flooded home for three days after floodwaters rose up around it on Saturday as Matthew passed through the area, according to CNN. Gaddy was soaking wet after being rescued from neck-high floodwaters infested with alligators and snakes, which she prayed wouldn’t get into her home.
“I’m soaked,” she told Fox8’s Chad Tucker as she held one of her two dogs. “I don’t know where my horses are. I have another dog stranded in the house.” One of her horses was pregnant, and both remain missing after her rescue. Gaddy said she prayed someone would find her and hung sheets out the window in case a helicopter flew over, but none did.
Gaddy’s son, a truck driver, drove from Texas to check on his mother, and with her nephew, walked through water and climbed over downed trees to bring her to safety. Gaddy had to leave her home with only the clothes on her back. She didn’t even have shoes.
Although Gaddy lived in her home for 27 years, she doesn’t know if she’ll be able to—or want to—go back to it again. “I just don’t think I can,” she said about returning to her home.
Goldman Sachs estimated that Hurricane Matthew caused $10 billion in damage, according to The Associated Press. Some businesses remain closed because of damage or lack of customers, who are focused on repairing their homes and replacing destroyed possessions.
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