Photo of Ky. woman, 97, trapped inside flooded home goes viral. She swam to rescuers

Missy Amburgey Crovetti posted a social media photo of her 97-year-old grandmother Mae Amburgey sitting on a bed surrounded by 4 feet of water in her Letcher County home Thursday and asked for help from someone who might have a boat.

“It was me desperate to get somebody to the house,” said Crovetti, a Whitesburg native who now lives north of Chicago.

Later that day, Crovetti said, Mae Amburgey and her son, Larry Amburgey, who is in his early 70s, swam out of the house located on Highway 119 across from Letcher County Central High School. Boats came to them and broke a window at the house.

The Amburgeys were doing a decent job of swimming to the boats, the current was just too swift for them, Crovetti said.

“Mom Mae” as Crovetti calls her grandmother “got hung up on a bridge” but rescuers got to her quickly, said Crovetti. Her uncle traveled down stream before they got to him, inhaled water and was on a ventilator at Whitesburg Appalachian Hospital for about 15 hours. He is improving.

Amburgey suffered a laceration on her leg and is now under observation at Whitesburg Appalachian Regional Hospital.

“She’s amazing,” Crovetti said of her grandmother, who once helped run the family business, Caudill Lumber, in Whitesburg. “Her condition is good.”

“Yesterday she was very shaken up. Today she is just happy” that she and her son are safe, Crovetti said.

Crovetti said they didn’t get out of the house sooner because the house had never flooded before other than having water in the basement and the water rose much more quickly than anyone would have anticipated.

Crovetti said the photo got a lot of attention, with thousands of shares on Facebook by Friday afternoon.

She has set up a GoFundMe account to help with her grandmother’s expenses as a result of the flood.

“Her house is a total mess and like so many from the area, she didn’t have flood insurance,” Crovetti wrote. “Any help would be greatly appreciated. She has never lived outside of Ermine, Ky and would very much like to stay at home.

“Thank you in advance and please know we are grateful and intend to help our neighbors as well, with any excess funds.”

Editor’s note: Mae Amburgey’s age was corrected on Oct. 12, 2022.

This story was originally published July 29, 2022 at 1:38 PM with the headline "Photo of Ky. woman, 97, trapped inside flooded home goes viral. She swam to rescuers."