(WKYT) – Deadly flash flooding has claimed the lives of four people in the Commonwealth, three of them in Richmond. Across the area, residents are facing damage to their homes and vehicles.
Yessica Velasco was at a friend’s house Saturday morning when the floodwaters rose rapidly around them.
‘We need to save ourselves first’
Velasco had plans to do a friend’s makeup when it began raining hard. That’s when her friend looked out the window.
“She came running and she was like, ‘Yessica, your car is flooded’ and so I was like, what? I was shocked and then so I ran outside,” Velasco said.
Velasco recorded video of the flooding. Immediately after, she and her friend’s husband used car straps to try to secure her vehicle to the deck.
But the water was rising quickly.
“The water was already up on his neck and so we were trying to hurry up and strap it. At that point I just wanted to tell him, you know what, just let go of the car, and just, we need to save ourselves first,” Velasco said.
Family reaches safety, calls 911
Once the car was secured, Velasco and her friend’s family moved quickly to get to higher ground.
“[Her friend’s husband] looked at me and he was like we need to get out. And then he looked at his wife like, ‘Grab the kids, we need to get out.’ She ran inside she handed me her little baby girl,” Velasco said.
Velasco and the family reached higher ground and called 911. She said emergency responders were unable to reach them at first.
“The entrance was blocked by water, you know, not even the firefighters, no one [could] come,” Velasco said.
The water eventually receded, leaving behind significant damage. Velasco said the floodwaters covered almost the entire staircase at the property.
Car loss affects small business
Velasco’s car, which she calls “Blueberry,” remains at the location where it flooded. She has access to a spare vehicle but said she relied on Blueberry for her home baking and delivery business, Dulce Hogar LLC.
“I do my desserts at home and I do a lot of deliveries, so my Blueberry, we were up and down up and down. So right now it’s hard because that’s my business, you know,” Velasco said.
Velasco said she has filed a claim with her insurance company but is uncertain about what will happen next.
“We were just talking, like here my friends, you know, that material’s material like we’re just glad that we’re okay,” Velasco said.
Velasco said she and many others in Madison County are still healing emotionally.