Community pitches in to help Westchester family whose home was destroyed by Ida

Family rescued from flooded Westchester home

One Westchester family may have lost their home during last week's flooding caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida, but they are saying they know they're lucky to be alive.

NEW YORK - When Chelsea Chapman tries to think about what happened when the remnants of Hurricane Ida struck our region, she says there are no words.

"How do you move on from this? You can’t fall from the floor. All you can do is pick yourself up. This is as bad as it gets," Chapman said. Her home in Rye was destroyed by the rising floodwaters from the storm. The single mother of three daughters lost everything.

"I remember my head being underwater at one point. We got upstairs and the basement door just flew off and the water just came out. It got here and then here and here. My kids are screaming we have to leave the house, but I look out and there are 12 cars floating in the street," Chapman said.

Chapman’s first floor was almost completely underwater within minutes. Her daughter Felicity was at one point trapped in the basement.

Their calls for help were finally answered when the city of Rye had a police boat that they used to pull Chelsea and her family to safety.

"No words when you see that rescue team and they come get you and you know I can put my kids in that boat and they’re going to be ok," Chapman said.

The community in Rye has set up a GoFundMe page to help them with a whole list of damage from plumbing to electrical work and checking to see if there’s any structural or mold damage.

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