(NewsNation) — Families across eastern Kentucky are working together to pick up the pieces after another round of rainstorms flooded their communities.

Mae Amburgey, 98, lived in Irvine, Kentucky her entire life and had to swim out of her home to safety. She survived by sitting on top of her mattress.

“She’s a very strong woman, but she had some help,” Amburgey’s granddaughter, Missy Crovetti, told “NewsNation Prime” during an appearance Tuesday night.

“As you can tell from the pictures, it’s pretty much a total loss. So it’s just a matter of getting the junk out, hauled away. We’re probably going to have to condemn it … which is sad, because that’s been her home for 70-73 years,” Crovetti said.

Crovetti said that her grandmother midjudged the severetity of the storms because she’d never seen anything like it. Amburgrey was with her son and grandson, but they were panicked. The electricity didn’t shut off, either, so they were getting shocked occasionally.

It was just their good fortune that a young man saw that they were in trouble and swam over to their home to help rescue them.

“It became very dire, and some young man just was, like, ‘Hey, I see that you’re in trouble. Do you need help?’ And he swam to them. He’s like our guardian angel,” Crovetti said.

Crovetti is preparing to leave for Kentucky to help clean up the area and assist in any way she can.

Gov. Andy Beshear said the death toll rose to 37 while hundreds of people remained unaccounted for and that high winds could bring another threat.