Catherine Ke, 18, was heading to her boyfriend's house around 2 a.m. in total darkness, when she unwittingly drove into a flood zone. She clung to a tree as she waited to be rescued.
A Missouri teenager's TikTok has gone viral for capturing her car's terrifying plunge into flood waters and the dramatic rescue that followed. Catherine Ke, 18, was heading to her boyfriend's house around 2 a.m. in total darkness, when she unwittingly drove into a flood zone.
As water started gushing into her car, Ke began recording, and soon abandoned the vehicle to get to safety.
"It came out of nowhere," Ke told Inside Edition. "And my engine actually shut off when I was sitting in the car. I could feel it drifting. I got out because I realized I needed to save myself."
The rushing water swept her away as she called 911, and at times, she thought she might drown.
"I was on the phone with the operator, and I'm holding my phone up from the water trying to keep my phone OK so I could keep talking," Ke said.
She clung to a tree for an hour waiting to be rescued.
"It was hard for them to find me, because the tree I was holding on to, the branches were drooping down, so a bunch of leaves and branches were kind of covering my face," Ke said.
When they arrived, the rescuers pulled her to safety into a boat.
"I told them 'thank you,' and I think I cried into one of the rescuers' shoulders," Ke said.
Through it all, the soon-to-be college freshman recorded the harrowing ordeal and posted the footage on TikTok the next day.
"I'm getting mixed reactions about it. The TikTok wasn't on my mind, but I was trying to take videos, one for the insurance company and two to show my family," Ke said.
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