Dozens of people in a downtown Houston apartment building -- including a Hurricane Katrina survivor and her children -- were rescued from the roof of their neighbor's two-story home today after their pleas for help highlighted the agony that many flood victims face.
"It’s water everywhere and we have nowhere to go," a desperate Iashia Nelson told "Good Morning America" on FaceTime Monday morning. "I have all my children I love. I have nothing but the clothes on my back, we just want to get out.”
The children who were stranded on the rooftop, including Nelson's son, were rescued via boat by the "Cajun Navy," an informal volunteer group with small watercraft. After the children were picked up, the adults in the group, including Nelson, were picked up by another boat.
On Monday morning, Nelson told ABC News that she was being transported to the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston, where she would be reunited with her son. By the afternoon, they had found each other.
After being rescued, Nelson, 36, recounted her harrowing experience of being stranded on the rooftop without food or water, saying, "I was scared out of my mind. I thought we was going to die."
"I was in so much pain, we had to get together and just form a prayer circle, just so we could all feel a little secure about us getting rescued and getting help," she told ABC News.
"Water was coming up so fast, to see those apartments starting to collapse, my life flashed before my eyes," Nelson added. "I wouldn't wish this on nobody."
Nelson, whose plea for help on "GMA" this morning went viral, adds that she believes technology played a role in her rescue, saying, "social media saved our lives."
"I had people that I had never met in my life trying to help us get out, and that has never happened in my life," she said. "I can't thank them enough."
Hurricane Harvey's historic rainfall and deadly flooding this weekend have left thousands of residents in the area stranded. Nelson told ABC News this morning before the rescue that it was unclear when authorities would be able to rescue them, and adding that she had been calling 911 for help throughout the night.
"We had to break the window to get outside on the roof because the window was real small,” she said on "GMA" prior to her rescue. “We had to take the whole window pane out so everybody could fit through the window. It’s like 30 of us on the roof.”
At least six people have died in the flooding that the National Weather Service has called "epic and catastrophic.”
Houston mayor defends decision not to issue evacuation order Hurricane Harvey victims: How to helpNelson, who moved to Houston from New Orleans after being displaced by Hurricane Katrina 12 years ago this week, said before her family's rescue that they had "nothing"-- no food or water.
Another neighbor also on that roof, Fred Clark, told ABC News this morning, "We really need help.”
An estimated 1,500 to 2,000 water rescues have taken place in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, as workers continue to locate survivors of the deadly storm, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Office.