The family was clinging to a tree in North Carolina amid flooding from the dangerous storm.
Rescuers jumped into action after discovering a pregnant woman clinging to a tree in rising North Carolina floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence.
In video of the incident, her husband and one of their children are seen holding on to a branch to avoid being swept away.
The family, which included the pregnant woman who is eight months along, her husband, their 2 kids ages 8 and 4, their 60-year-old uncle and a dog were all rescued by volunteers from Wild Florida, an airboat tour company from the Orlando area.
"By the time we had gotten there, they were holding on for four hours — two hours of which they were holding on in the dark, complete darkness," Jordan Munns of Wild Florida told Inside Edition. "They had all said when they were on the boat they assumed they were going to die because they would no longer have the energy to hold on and get swept away.”
The volunteers say it took them about 35 minutes to get the family aboard their boat.
The pregnant woman, Kelli Massey, told Inside Edition she is very thankful to the people who saved her family and said she thanked God for being rescued.
She said she was afraid she was going to go into labor because she “was so stressed.”
The brave mom added that the water was cold but “I wasn’t thinking about anything but holding on to that branch.”
“My daughter kept saying she wanted to go home and I kept saying, ‘We gotta hold on,’” she said while fighting back tears.
Doctors say her baby is OK following the incident.
The tour company posted video of the rescue on Facebook, where it has been viewed more than 5,000 times.
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