Okmulgee Woman Thankful To Be Alive After Water Rushes Into Car During Flash Flood

An Okmulgee woman said she's lucky to be alive after water came rushing into her car during Monday's flash flooding. 

Joy Carnley said she was driving to work on Monday when in an instant, water started filling up her car. She said the water was up to her neck, but she managed to swim to safety. 

"I was on the phone with my mom screaming, ‘help me’ and ‘I'm going to drown,’" she said. 

Carnley said she didn't even see the water on the road and didn't know it was in her car until it was too late. She said when it came up through the floorboards, she was scared to death.

"It was instantaneous, it was like one second I was on dry road and the next second I was going underwater," Carnley said. 

She said she knew she had to do everything she could to get out. So, she pushed open her car door and started swimming, which wasn't easy since she was also carrying something that was near and dear to her heart. 

"Just by chance I had my granddaughters' ashes in the car to give to her father, and I grabbed those and put them over my head when I got out of the car and carried them up so they wouldn't get ruined," Carnley said. 

Carnley said she just bought the car a few weeks ago, so she's devastated that it's totaled. But she's grateful she made it home to her family. 

"I was thinking about my kids, and my grandkids, you know what it was going to be like with me, how they would be without me there," she said. 

If you'd like to help Carnley, here's a link to a GoFundMe.