Flood victim recalls when her Dallas apartment began to fill with water
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - After the historic flooding that swept through North Texas, one woman in Dallas shared her story after being trapped in her apartment when the water came rushing in.
"Let's go in I guess," said Lydia Umlauf.
"Oh my goodness it smells so bad," Umlauf said as she walked CBS 11 into her front door. "Okay, so basically I was in my bed over there, not sleeping I was reading actually. I finished some scrambled eggs you can see it in the pan over there. That's untouched because the water line came up to here."
She had several inches of water in her apartment on Monday.
"The water moved everything around basically," Umlauf said. "So, I'm a violinist and I grabbed my violin it's my most treasured possession and I grabbed a laptop and an iPad. Put them in a bag."
After the water came rushing into her apartment, she decided to get up and try to find a way out.
"I basically couldn't open the door, so I grabbed the bag and the violin and I opened the window and climbed out the window… it was crazy," Umlauf said.
Umlauf said when she got outside she realized how serious the situation was, after seeing her car washed up over the curb and near her front door.
"The water probably came up to here, but yeah basically I had to hold, holding the top part of my violin trying to hold it above my head to not damage it from water and the current was kind of coming this way," Umlauf said. "I didn't even have a plan I just had my violin and my bag and I was swimming, floating, letting the current take me all the way down here."
That's when a neighbor noticed her sitting on a car submerged in water and invited her to wait on the second floor of their loft for a few hours.
On Wednesday, she reflected on the chaos but is also thankful for her life.
"All the love and support that has been shown to me, seriously I think that is what shielded me from negativity and negative emotions and sadness," Umlauf said.
But she also notes her feeling relief after being able to save her violin.
"I'm so happy, I mean it's my most dear possession," Umlauf said.
Her frying pan that still sits on her stove, symbolizes this entire situation... it started with her cooking eggs and it's now left behind like much of the neighborhood that still needs to be cleaned up.
