A North Carolina couple says they are lucky to be alive after they were swept to safety from Hurricane Helene on a floating couch.
Howard and Lisa Ray said their home was pushed hundreds of feet away by strong floodwaters caused by Hurricane Helene. The couple shared in a recent interview with Queen City News that they were able to get away on a couch as their home filled up with water.
"I just knew we were dead," Lisa Ray told the outlet. "The trailer started filling up, and it's like, it's like [God] opened a piece up and I just had to sit down on that couch, and we floated out."
The couple said they held on as they drifted along the Cane River, which was 25 to 30 feet above normal at the time.
"While she was still on the couch, I remember just holding onto her," Howard Ray told Queen City News. "And I remember her saying, 'We're going to drown.' And I was like, 'No if we're going to drown, we're going to drown together.'"
Howard Ray said he told Lisa to jump and grabbed a barbed wire fence after floating hundreds of feet down the river. She later had to receive medical treatment for cuts to her hand.
"We shouldn't be alive, but God has a purpose," Lisa told Queen City News.
A Gofundme has been set up to help support the couple.
The couple from Yancey County are not the only ones still in recovery from the hurricane. Kathy Ayers told Carolina Public Press that her sister's trailer home was swept away in the floodwaters while her basement was completely flooded.
Numerous homes and businesses in Yancey and Mitchell counties are still working on cleanup and rebuilding efforts with the help of various nonprofits and government agencies.
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