Woman from DC rescued from Houston flood by doctor

HOUSTON - A woman from Washington D.C. was rescued during the flooding in Houston by an area doctor whose wife saw her pleas for help.

Mikki Talley said she was at her first-floor apartment when she noticed water begin to trickle inside.

“I just got the dog and the first bag I could get to and just left. The water got to about waist high overnight, but before I got out of there my boots were swimming in the water,” Talley recalled. “I went to the second floor because the water was too high on the outside and it had already started to gather in our parking lot, it was like a pool in our parking lot.

Talley said the U.S. Coast Guard arrived in a helicopter twice to help evacuate pregnant women, children, the elderly and the sick first. Talley said the rescuers told her someone would be back for the rest of the people but they never came.

She was posting on Facebook to let her friends and family know that she was stuck in her building due to the high waters. Dr. Fred Lang’s wife had set up a text messaging group of friends and family in Houston so everyone could check in with each other. It was there that one of her friends shared Talley’s post and she let her husband know.

Lang said he saw the address and realized it wasn’t far from their home.

“I decided well, it’s maybe about three-quarters of a mile away. Things were looking a little bit better where I was so I basically said an ‘Our Father,’ said a ‘Hail Mary,’ prayed for wisdom and set out down to the place where she was living to see if we could get her out of there,” Lang explained.

Lang was able to walk most of the way to her apartment complex but said as he got closer the water was up nearly over the cars parked on the street.

“I actually lived there (at Talley’s place) when I first moved to Houston and there was a gate in the back where I arrived. The gate was closed but through some miracle some other guy showed up and we were able to figure out the gate had a wire on the top so we unlatched that, were able to pull the gate back and I went into the back,” Lang described.

Lang said on his way he met a man that needed help pushing his car so he lent a hand. After helping him the man told Lang there was a map of the place.

“So with that, I knew where she was living and I walked further in the back and she was really very far in the back near the bayou and at that point, I again encountered water that was probably waist deep," Lang said. "Then realized that her apartment was connected, (like) I was hoping, to a garage and there was a second level so I actually backed tracked, found a pathway through there that wasn’t that deep, maybe knee deep, got up in the garage and entered where she was staying and then just started yelling her name. The halls were all dark. The electricity was out and then all of a sudden a door opens and there she was.”

Talley said she didn’t know what was happening at first.

“I thought I was losing it. I didn’t know what was going on because we had just gotten up and I thought I could be dreaming,” she said. “I heard my name being called so I ran to the door and said, ‘Hello?’ And he said, ‘Hi, are you Mikki?’ And I said, ‘Yes!’ And he said, ‘I’m Dr. Fred Lang and I’m coming to get you. Come on let’s go!’”

Talley and Lang were able to take her dog back to his home where they have both been safe and sound since.

In the video player above, watch FOX 5’s Tony Perkins’ interview with Talley and Lang.