A one-minute video recorded on Facebook Live is the last the world heard from Linda Almond before she was carried away by floodwaters that washed over Tennessee this weekend.
Linda Almond’s sister identified her body the following day, her brother Leo Almond said on Facebook.
At least 22 people are dead and more than a dozen are missing following historic flooding in Middle Tennessee, The Weather Channel reported. Photographs and videos of the aftermath show rushing water plucked homes from their foundations, swept up cars and destroyed buildings.
The flooding was spurred by excessive rainfall in the region early Saturday.
The Waverly Department of Public Safety urged anyone living in “flood prone areas” near Trace Creek to evacuate just after 8 a.m. Saturday. By noon, the county was operating with temporary emergency phone numbers while officials worked to get 911 communications reestablished.
Linda Almond went live just before 10:15 a.m.
“Well if anybody seen me on Facebook Live we’re being flooded right now in Waverly, Tennessee,” she said at the start of the video. “Really scary.”
Waverly is a town of roughly 4,100 people about 75 miles west of Nashville.
The video shows a glass pane speckled with rain droplets and debris floating by the window in murky brown water. The sound of moving water can also be heard in the background.
About halfway through the video, Almond is heard saying, “whoa, whoa.”
“I think something just hit the side of the house,” a second person in the video said in response.
The camera jostled a bit before Almond’s voice returned, seemingly shakier than before.
“This is scary,” she said.
In her last words before the video cut off, Almond can be heard saying, “Oh my goodness, oh my goodness.”
Family members told WKRN that Almond and her son climbed to the roof some time after the live video feed ended. But the roof collapsed, and both were caught up in the floodwaters.
Her brother Leo shared the live video on his Facebook page just after 3:30 p.m. on Saturday saying Almond’s son had been rescued but she was still missing.
By Sunday, he said Almond was gone.
“She died in the water yesterday,” Leo Almond wrote. “Please pray for her soul.”