ODEN — David Lebow's first thought upon awakening early Friday morning to rapidly rising waters in the creek by his home was to save the lawnmower in the yard from drifting off.
He didn't know then that a lot more than just his lawnmower was about to be heading downstream.
Lebow, 62, jumped out of bed and found the water already standing in his home. He got his wife up, tried to collect the family's dogs and moved to escape.
"We got to the front door and ... we couldn't get out — too much water pressure against it," Lebow recalled Friday afternoon. "We looked at each other [and said] 'what are we going to do?' And the house went to listing. Just like one of these big old ships fixing to turn over in the ocean.
"And then it turned around. I told her just hang on. We're going to do whatever. I don't know what the plan is, but the plan is we're going to do whatever."
Lebow and his wife, Mary Ann, were in the house when it started moving rapidly downstream. It continued in the floodwaters about 800 feet before the single-story, wooden structure crashed into a tree and split in two. Only a concrete slab and a few pieces of debris remained on the lot where it once stood, 1242 Brushy Drive.
Lebow and his wife were in the small section of house. He said they stayed inside as long as they could before the water got too high, forcing them to get out and grab hold of a tree.
It all happened about 2:15 a.m., Lebow said. He and his wife were rescued, but not until hours later when the sun came up and crews could find them.
By Friday afternoon, a number of family and friends had gathered to help salvage possessions from the wrecked home and from along the path it floated. The floodwaters receded during the day, leaving behind a muddy mess of pieces of the house and items from the home ranging from a rake to a dishwasher to a portable generator.
The Lebows didn't have insurance and had lost everything once before 10 years ago in a fire. It will be hard going forward, Lebow said, but he vowed to persevere.
"It'll be tough recovering from losing everything you've got. But what can you do? You've got to just keep on trucking. And that's what we'll do.
"Our next plan is to move up on a high, high ridge," he said with a laugh. "Maybe the tornado won't hit us."