COCKE COUNTY, Tenn. (WVLT/Gray News) – A Tennessee woman says she was determined to survive the raging floodwaters from Hurricane Helene.
The waters of the French Broad River have now receded but three weeks ago, those raging waters nearly took 80-year-old Shelia Creveling’s life.
Creveling was in her home along the river in the Newport area when she noticed the water was rising. She said she felt she had no choice but to jump in with her dog, Biscuit.
“That‘s when I said, ’I‘m not going to die today. Today is not the day I’m going to die.’ And I didn’t,” she said.
Creveling said she survived but one of the moments that shattered was realizing that Biscuit did not.
She said she swam that day for 45 minutes, coming up for deep breaths before eventually getting herself to higher ground.
Creveling said it was a miracle from above.
“I was determined to make it. I think that’s a miracle because I ended up right where I wanted. How that happened, I can’t tell you, but I did, and someone found me and saved me,” Creveling said.
What she didn‘t know at the time, which was revealed at the hospital, was that she had a heart attack trying to survive the flooding.
“Several cardiac tests, I mean, several and very severe ones that were unpleasant, but I needed them,” Creveling said.
After everything, Creveling said the only items she was able to salvage from her home were her father’s medals and a few family pictures.
She has also spent the last three weeks staying in a hotel in Pigeon Forge.
Creveling said she’s been trying to put her life back together with donated items, keeping what she can use and re-donating the rest.
“So many cosmetics and cleaning things, and it’s just so much. You really can’t have any organization. It’s just you put it here, you put it there, and that’s the way it has to stay,” she said.
Now, Creveling is awaiting a move into a new camper that’s been donated to her. She cherishes the few family memories that didn’t wash away while remembering her will to survive the ordeal.
“I’ve got [family] pictures and that’s the one thing I am grateful to have,” she said.
Creveling encourages everyone to learn how to swim because that’s what saved her life.
Friends and employees at the hotel have started a GoFundMe for Creveling to help.
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