An 80-year-old woman survives a heart attack and escapes record hurricane flooding

COCKE COUNTY, Tenn. (WVLT/Gray News) – A Tennessee woman says she is determined to survive the raging floods of Hurricane Helene.

The waters of the French Broad River have now receded, but three weeks ago those raging waters nearly took the life of 80-year-old Shelia Creveling.

Creveling was at her riverside home in the Newport area when she noticed the water rising. She said she felt like she had no choice but to step in with her dog, Biscuit.

“So I said, ‘I’m not going to die today.’ “Today is not the day I’m going to die. And I haven’t,” she said.

Creveling said she survived, but one of the most shocking moments was realizing Biscuit didn’t make it.

She said she swam for 45 minutes that day and then took deep breaths before finally moving to higher ground.

Creveling said it was a miracle from above.

“I was determined to make it. I think it’s a miracle because I ended up exactly where I wanted. How that happened I can’t tell you, but I did it and someone found me and saved me,” Creveling said.

What she didn’t know at the time, what was revealed at the hospital, was that she suffered a heart attack while trying to survive the flood.

“Multiple heart tests, I mean multiple and very heavy ones that were uncomfortable, but I needed them,” Creveling said.

Ultimately, Creveling said the only items she was able to salvage from her home were her father’s medals and a few family photos.

She also spent the last three weeks in a hotel in Pigeon Forge.

Creveling said she tried to put her life back together with donated items, keeping what she could use and donating the rest again.

“So many cosmetics and cleaning items, and it’s just so much. You really can’t have an organization. You just put it here, you put it there, and it has to stay that way,” she said.

Now Creveling is waiting to move into a new mobile home that was donated to her. She cherishes the few family memories that have not disappeared while remembering her will to survive the ordeal.

“I did [family] Pictures and that’s the only thing I’m grateful for,” she said.

Creveling encourages everyone to learn to swim because it saved her life.

Friends and staff at the hotel have started a GoFundMe campaign for Creveling to help.

Copyright 2024 WVLT via Gray Local Media, Inc. All rights reserved.