Who is Chloe Adams? Brave girl who swam to rooftop with pet dog in Kentucky flood rescued
On Thursday, July 28, Chloe Adams, 17, woke up early in the morning to find water gushing all around her during the Kentucky flood. CNN reported water rushing out of bathroom drains, and bubbling through the kitchen tiles. Her home was quickly surrounded by water. The girl said to the media outlet, "There was water as far as I could see. I had a full-blown panic attack."
Chloe lives in Whitesburg, Kentucky, along with her grandfather and her dog, Sandy, whom she has had since she was a toddler. The water separated Chloe from her grandparents, who were at home just a few feet away. They yelled over to her to stay put until help arrived. However, there was little to no hope. The cell service in the area was poor, and the 911 center, flooded with calls, was unresponsive. But a determined Chloe made up her mind to make it out safely with her dog.
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She said, "My next thought was that we needed to swim out to my uncle's house," where the rest of her family was taking shelter. "I put Sandy in the water momentarily to see if she could swim. But she couldn't, so I scooped her up and went back inside, wading through the waist deep water to try to locate something that she could float to put her on." She then started experimenting with several pieces of furniture and eventually placed her dog inside a plastic drawer from her closet to keep her dry. She then placed the drawer on a sofa cushion so that her dog could float. "I finally had a plan that I believed … might work," she said. "I knew the dangers of trying to swim in deep and moving water, but I felt I had no choice."
Chloe then started swimming in the cold waters and kept pushing Sandy's cushion in front of her. She finally reached the slim roof of a storage building that was nearby and the only structure that was not submerged. She waited there with her dog for more than five hours before her cousin rescued them using a kayak. Her family who took shelter on the second floor of her uncle's was watching over her and kept talking to her while she waited for help to arrive. She broke down upon reaching her grandmother's home and was relieved she and her dog could survive. She added, "My heart goes out to all the other people who lost and suffered so much more than I did in this horrific devastation."
Chloe's father, Terry Adams, shared a post on Facebook after his daughter's recovery. It read, "My daughter is safe and whole tonight. She saved her dog by putting her in a container that would float and then swam with her to a neighboring rooftop. She waited hours until she could be rescued. She is a hero. I love you Chloe. You are simply amazing. Thank you Larry; words are not enough. We lost everything today…everything except what matters most.”