‘It was lightning, and the water rushed around us like a river’

April 30--BAKER -- When Tammy Lane and her family went to bed Tuesday night in their home on Stanley Lane, "My daughter woke me up about 10:20 p.m. to tell me there was water rising in the back yard," Lane said. "By the time we got up to look and got back to the door, it was coming into the house.

"When we tried to get out the front, where the road is, it was already up to my chest, and I'm 5'3."

Lane said she and the 15 or so other families on the street lost everything. She posted a request on the Daily News Facebook page seeking guidance for what to do now.

"I'm just standing in the rain," she said Wednesday morning during a phone conversation about Tuesday night's storms.

"When the sheriff's department arrived to assist about 11 p.m., the water was already over our vehicles," she said.

As she and her family scrambled to escape the rising water, Lane carried her boyfriend's 11-year-old daughter on her back while her 23-year-old son carried her 16-year-old daughter on his back. Lane also has a 20-year-old son who lives with her.

"It was lightning, and the water rushed around us like a river," she said.

Today she's frustrated over not only the flooding but also the lack of assistance.

"I'm so upset at the process that happened," she said, noting the same area had experienced flooding a couple of weeks ago and has been the subject of many meetings.

Everyone on Stanley Lane was evacuated during the night, she said, after "the water started rushing really bad."

Although material possessions are not Lane's primary concern -- they can be replaced, she said -- her home had special significance.

"I have stage 2 cancer. I put every penny I had into my house, so if something happened to me, my children would have a place to live," she said.

"I don't have flood insurance. I don't live in a flood zone, and you can't get it. I don't have medical coverage. I lost my car. My daughter lost her car.

"My children and I are homeless."

Lane returned to what was left of her home Wednesday afternoon to try to find some clothes.

"We at least need something to wear," she said.

Contact Daily News Features Editor Brenda Shoffner at 850-315-4430 or bshoffner@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @BrendaSnwfdn.

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