BELOW SUPERNAV drop zone ⇩

Family finds missing woman who survived floodwaters of Ian

MAIN AREA TOP drop zone ⇩

MAIN AREA TOP drop zone ⇩

ovp test

mLife Diagnostics LLC: Oral Fluid Drug Testing

Male shot by female at Shreveport apartment

Class to create biodiverse backyard

Rules for outbursts at Caddo School Board Meeting

maylen

https://digital-stage.newsnationnow.com/

AUTO TEST CUSTOM HTML 20241114185800

AUTO TEST CUSTOM HTML 20241115200405

AUTO TEST CUSTOM HTML 20241118165728

AUTO TEST CUSTOM HTML 20241118184948

(NewsNation) — Dianna Walz doesn’t know how to swim, yet somehow she managed to escape the floodwaters of Hurricane Ian that destroyed her home.

Her family is still looking for answers as to how Walz miraculously survived.

“She says it’s a miracle,” said Genevra Prothero, Walz’s aunt. Prothero joined NewsNation’s “Banfield” on Monday, along with Beverly Prothero, Walz’s sister.

The pair was among many who put out calls for help in the search for loved ones after Ian battered the southwestern city of Fort Myers, Florida. The death toll from the hurricane has now surpassed 100, including four people who have died in North Carolina.

Ian laid waste to a large chunk of Lee and Charlotte counties in southwest Florida and dumped torrential amounts of rain across the central and northeastern parts of the state. It made a second landfall in South Carolina before dissipating.

Walz left harrowing voicemails for her family as the water overtook her home, telling them “the car is underwater” and “the walls are moving.” On Sunday, Walz made contact after making it out alive, though the Protheros said she doesn’t remember how.

“She did have some injuries, she hurt her head … and a fork got stuck in her foot,” Beverly Prothero said. “I’m thinking that maybe the water had receded enough to where she could walk out, but we don’t really know.”

Walz chronicled her experience in a video posted to Facebook, her last post before she went missing. In the video, Walz expresses concern for her cat, which died in the storm.

“It was a very sad moment … and I don’t think anybody could imagine the desperation and fear that she had,” Beverly Prothero said.

Ian’s remnants have moved offshore and formed a Nor’easter that is expected to pile even more water into an already inundated Chesapeake Bay and threatened to cause the most significant tidal flooding event in Virginia’s Hampton Roads region in the last 10 to 15 years, said Cody Poche, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

With the death toll rising, Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said the federal government was ready to help in a huge way, focusing first on victims in Florida, which took the brunt of one of the strongest storms to make landfall in the United States. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden plan to visit the state Wednesday.

Banfield

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

Site Settings Survey

 

MAIN AREA MIDDLE drop zone ⇩

Trending on NewsNation

AUTO TEST CUSTOM HTML 20241119133138

MAIN AREA BOTTOM drop zone ⇩

tt

KC Chiefs parade shooting: 1 dead, 21 shot including 9 kids | Morning in America

Witness of Chiefs parade shooting describes suspect | Banfield

Kansas City Chiefs parade shooting: Mom of 2 dead, over 20 shot | Banfield

WWE star Ashley Massaro 'threatened' by board to keep quiet about alleged rape: Friend | Banfield

Friend of WWE star: Ashley Massaro 'spent hours' sobbing after alleged rape | Banfield

Clear

la

48°F Clear Feels like 48°
Wind
1 mph NNW
Humidity
52%
Sunrise
Sunset

Tonight

Clear to partly cloudy. Low 46F. Winds light and variable.
46°F Clear to partly cloudy. Low 46F. Winds light and variable.
Wind
1 mph N
Precip
8%
Sunset
Moon Phase
Waning Gibbous