Charlotte Fire Department helps Lumberton flood victims

LUMBERTON, N.C. — Members of the Charlotte Fire Department’s swift water rescue team are back home after helping people in Lumberton escape floodwaters from Hurricane Matthew.

"The only thing she had was a cell flip phone,” engineer Stephen Pritchard said. “All you could see was a light through the window and she was beating on the window."

Pritchard will never forget the tiny signal that guided his team through darkness and waist-deep water to an elderly woman trapped in her home.

“Making my way through her house, dressers, beds, everything underwater and this poor lady is just standing there,” Pritchard said.

The group responded to calls in Lumberton during the height of the flooding.

“The high water destroyed pretty much everything in its path: homes, roads, businesses washed away,” firefighter Michael Brewer said.

It will be days before the threat is over as the death toll continues to rise in North Carolina.

Cox Media Group