Huffington Post – by By Nina Golgowski
More than a dozen senior citizens are reportedly back on dry land after a plea for help showed them sitting in waist-deep floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.
The residents of La Vita Bella, an assisted living home in Dickinson, Texas, were trapped this weekend when water poured inside, Kim McIntosh, whose mother owns the facility, told the New York Daily News.
Owner Trudy Lampson sent photos of the stranded residents to McIntosh and her husband Timothy, who then posted them to social media, McIntosh said.
“Need help asap emergency services please,” Timothy McIntosh tweeted on Sunday, identifying the facility by name.
https://twitter.com/DividendsMGR/status/901805509950541825
Many people initially suspected that the dramatic photo was a fake. The residents in the picture appeared unusually calm, despite water that was reaching their chests. It’s unclear what the residents are doing in the photo, though Twitter users have pointed out that one woman appears to be either knitting or inflating a life vest.
One Twitter user responded to naysayers by identifying her own aunt in the photo.
“If you think it’s fake [because] they appear ‘calm’ then I suppose you’re lucky enough to have never been in severe flooding with someone disabled,” she tweeted. “One woman enjoys knitting, so that’s what she’s doing. What else should she do? Many are in wheelchairs or use walkers for short distances.”
An official with the Galveston Office of Emergency Services confirmed that the photo was real, ABC affiliate KTRK reported. First responders performed a helicopter rescue on Sunday afternoon, according to the Galveston Daily News.
“We were air-lifting grandmothers and grandfathers,” David Popoff, Dickinson’s emergency management coordinator, told the local paper.
As for why the residents weren’t evacuated before the storm, Kim McIntosh told the New York Daily News that her mother was advised not to because the facility had never flooded before.
HuffPost was not immediately able to reach the facility for comment.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nursing-home-residents-rescued_us_59a30b62e4b05710aa5cf1be
Wow. I’m glad these women were rescued.
By the way, FEMA is closed due to the hurricane. Lol
LoL.
Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Asking where FEMA is, is like saying “Hey, where are all the managers at?”
Pitiful.
…so heart breaking… just want to hug them
The heart breaking part for me is where are their families? Why are they living in assisted living?
We have some older neighbors, mid 90’s and their one child and husband live on the property and their son comes every couple weeks to relieve the daughter and husband. These children refuse to put Henry and Elenora in a home. This is the way it should be, imo.
We’ve relegated our elderly to this crap. Family, foundation of all that is good and the glue of the social compact.
you are spot on Katie…..break up the family….first toss the elderly out then the men….tons of single moms nowadays…..all isolated….