'God was with us': Leander woman describes being swept away by floods, surviving in tree
AUSTIN (KXAN) -- A Leander woman and her family were swept away by floodwaters early Saturday morning and managed to survive by climbing a tree, the family told KXAN.
Melissa Higginbotham lives in Leander, just down the street from the Travis County Emergency Services District 1 station and the Round Mountain Baptist Church. She says around midnight she noticed there was water in her front yard.
"About 2 my dad came banging on the door, 'we got to go,'" she said.
Higginbotham and her daughter, plus their family pug, loaded into a car and tried to get to higher ground; but it was too late, the water had risen too quickly. They then piled into her dad's truck in an attempt to escape.
"My car floated off, we still haven't found it. And then we watched our neighbors in their double wide float past us with their whole family in the house. They fortunately hit some trees back here and stopped and made it," Higginbotham said.
She says her and her family, in the truck, then started to float as well. They hit a tree, crawled out the window of the truck and climbed up the tree. The three -- Higginbotham, her dad and her daughter -- stayed there for roughly two hours until the water receded some and emergency crews came.
"God was with us and God made sure we were okay," Higginbotham said.
She says much of her family lives on the street, or nearby, and the people who live on her street have known each other for a long time. They're all helping each other pick up the pieces Sunday.
"It's Leander at it's best, no two ways about it. Community supporting community," she said.
Baptist church opens its doors
Just a few roads down, the Round Mountain Baptist Church has opened its doors to help pass out water, food, and most importantly help people get information. At the front door is a list of people who may be missing.
"While it's been devastating, it's also been awe inspiring to see the community just band together and work together to provide space for people to come," said Katherine Waggoner, who works at the church.
Waggoner said the greatest need she's seeing right now is for information, help finding people's loved ones who have not yet been seen since the floods washed through this weekend.
"People just want to know what's going on, they want to know where their loved ones are," she said.