A teenager swept up in the Kentucky flooding was determined not to leave her dog behind. Her fast thinking saved both their lives.
The unprecedented flooding that has hit eastern Kentucky has left hundreds of people without homes and hundreds more missing. But Chloe Adams, 17, reacted quickly and grabbed a plastic bin to save her dog, Sandy.
According to her father, Terry Adams, Chloe and Sandy were separated from her grandfather and couldn’t reach the home where he had taken shelter upstairs. So she quickly put her dog, Sandy, into the container and made a dangerous swim over to a place above the floodwaters – her neighbor’s rooftop.
Chloe filmed a video once she and Sandy were sheltered on the roof.
“She saved her dog by putting her in a container that would float and then swam with her to a neighboring rooftop,” Terry Adams, Chloe’s father, later wrote on Facebook.
A few hours later, the teen was rescued by her grandfather, Larry Adams, in a kayak.
He shared video of his paddle rescue of his granddaughter and Sandy on TikTok.
@larryadams606 #kyflooding #flooding2022 #whitewaterkayaking #606 #helpkentucky ♬ Dramatic Epic Cinematic Heroic Music – DenisTimonin
He later said his clever and brave granddaughter had to swim 70 yards across to the roof in strong currents at night.
He wrote on Facebook, “Never been more thankful to be a Kayaker than these last few days. Chloe swam out of her house across current 70 yards in the middle of the night (pulling her dog) to get to that roof. Courageous young lady right there.”
“She waited hours until she could be rescued. She is a hero,” her father wrote. “We lost everything today… everything except what matters most.”
He added, “She is a hero not only for her actions that day, but for the way she has carried herself since. I could not be more proud and I must say, Sandy agrees. They are both doing well.”
The family has set up a GoFundMe to help raise funds.
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