“I don’t know if he made it home from church,” Howell, 43, wrote in a post. “I’m worried he’s stuck in Dismal. He drives a red Honda Civic.” The Dismal Creek area is in Buchanan County, where local officials said severe flooding late Tuesday and early Wednesday had affected more than 100 homes, landslides had blocked roads and river approaches had washed out. In the middle of the storm, Howell, who lives about three hours from Buchanan County, said she felt helpless. Her brother and sister were also not in the county to help find their mother. She posted her post on Facebook in hopes that more people from the affected communities would see it, she said. “I basically had to become a private investigator to find my mother,” Howell said. Within hours, a series of messages from different people helped piece together the puzzle and find her mum, who had been taken to safety.
Putting the pieces of a rescue together
About an hour after Howell uploaded her post, an old friend from high school sent her a photo of a red Honda Civic stuck in the mud nearly a foot high. The windows of the car were rolled up and the words “Live, Laugh, Love” were visible on the rear windshield. “That’s how I knew it was her car,” Howell said. She shared the photo on Facebook, writing: “Staying as calm as possible…my mom’s car was found in a landslide at Dismal.” Several hours after that initial message, another man texted her saying he and a rescue crew helped her mother out of that car after she was pinned between a mudslide and flash flood. Shortly after that message, Howell received another, this time from Buchanan County Sheriff’s Deputy Rusty Sykes, who informed her that he had driven her mother from the flood area to a nearby residence — and that it was safe. Then another high school friend texted to say Howell’s mother had spent the night at her aunt’s house. The next day, 67-year-old Ellen Howell was arrested by authorities and taken home, her daughter learned. “I still can’t believe the outpouring of support I’ve gotten,” Nancy Howell told CNN. Members of the church community went to check on her mother and reported that she was safe and well, but she still didn’t have a phone after the storm, she said. Nancy Howell said she is grateful to everyone who came forward with information, as well as county and state officials. And although she was relieved by the news, she said she will feel better when she finally hears her mother’s voice again. CNN’s David Williams contributed to this report.
