“It’s all God”: A couple who survived Hurricane Helen by floating on the sofa

A North Carolina couple who survived Hurricane Helen using Hurricane Helen as a flotation device thanked God for protecting them, and their faith was in the aftermath of the disaster that destroyed their community. He revealed how he supported them.

In September, the hurricane took Georgia, Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee after landing in Florida’s Big Bend area. Initially landing as a Category 4 storm, Helen has caused devastation to communities across various states.

Howard Ray and his wife, Lisa, are surprised they survived after the flood cleaned up the Pensacola and swam in the trailer while they were inside. But they believe that God has enabled them to escape.

“I want people to understand that they can’t give up,” Howard told Queen City News. “I can’t understand. We should not be alive. There’s no way, it’s all God. ”

Queen City News also shared a short video clip that Lisa had filmed on the phone of the present barren property where her home once stood. When the water began filling the trailer, Lisa thought they were going to die.

“The trailer was starting to fill up. It was like (God) had to open the pieces and sit on that couch, and we were floating,” she said.

As the water dragged the pair along the Cane River, they held them on the sofa like a flotation device. The waterline at this point averaged at least 25-30 feet above , but the couple held on a makeshift raft.

“I just hugged her while she was still on the couch,” recalls Howard. “And I remember she said, ‘We’re about to own.’ And I said, “No, if we drown, we’re going to own together.”

Howard remembers floating 400 yards on the couch before telling his wife to jump. After listening to her husband’s instructions, Lisa grabbed a barbed wire fence and used it to pull herself up. The sharp wire cut her hand, but they still used it as a lifeline and eventually took shelter in the garage.

Lisa and her husband stayed in the garage for a few hours, waiting for the water to settle.

Howard, an EU within the Pensacola Volunteer Fire Department, eventually returned to Pensacola to see how he could help.

“No matter how much I hurt, I haven’t left the boy, so I walked back to Pensacola to go to help the boy,” he recalls.

Lisa is later admitted to the hospital for a cut in her left hand, and the couple continues to heal from other wounds as a result of the disaster. While in the hospital, Lisa learns that her friend Michelle Quintero, who worked as captain at the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, has died in the flood.

“I just fell,” Lisa recalls. “She was a good guy. She’s a great mother. She had one grandchild and one grandchild.”

The flood caused Lisa and Howard to lose their home and car. In the aftermath, they work hard to get back to their feet. But despite their endurance, the couple has not lost faith in the God who saved and provided them when they needed them.

Pleasant Valley Baptist Church is using donations from the Disaster Relief Fund to pay for couples’ stays on Airbnb next year, Queen City News reported.

Two days after the storm, they are reunited with their dog Sadie. Sadie waited for them next to the jeep where their home once stood.

Lisa knows they are still alive because “God has a purpose,” but she admits she is not sure what it is. Her husband believes that God saved them for what they are doing now. “It shows people that God is there.”

“I know I might have lost everything, but that doesn’t mean I have to stop and stop and give up,” Howard said. “That’s not me.”

Last week, Christian Post interviewed Cajun Navy 2016 and Christian pastors who support rescue operations in western North Carolina. The nonprofit, also known as Pinnacle Search & Rescue, is one of several organizations that have fallen into ruined areas.

Chaplain Mitch Collier has been critical of the federal government’s response to hurricanes, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency has argued that it is particularly slow to respond to the area. Collier, who has helped rescue operations in almost every major US storm since 2017, counted the destruction Helen has witnessed as the worst thing he’s ever seen.

“It was tough,” Collier said. “Fortunately, I have the strength of the Lord in me, because I see what we saw, some of the things we experienced, while we try to help. People can’t handle some of the devastation.

“God is fine. God sent us here. He found the people who God led me. One man said I saved his life. I said, “God is yours.” It saved my life.” ”