The Texas family of 9 fled floods by forming a hole in a loft

When flooding from the nearby River Guadalupe poured into his home, a Texas family relied on nine on lobster buoys and a pocket knife to cut a hole in a loft near the top of their house in hunting.

“When I realized how much rain it was,” Penny Deupree told, 83, to CBS Affiliate Ken 5. “It was already in my house. But I had eight people, two children and two dogs. It just went south from there.”

Much of the house itself was destroyed, but everyone in the home survived.

“We were rescued by God,” Penny told the station. “So simple and easy.”

Her adult son, Tad Deupree, said in a Gofundme that the expanded relatives had gathered to celebrate the fourth of July.

“In addition to losing her home in over 20 years, which she had built with my late father, Tom” Pops “Deupree, she has dropped her car, unchanging family’s legacy and countless photo records,” wrote Tad about her mother. “If you know Penny, you know how she cared for crafts and preserves memories with her scrapbooks.”

Photos show broken furniture sprinkle with the home’s interior, which is covered with debris.

“They got the kids first and mom together,” Penny told Kens 5. “And when it was my turn, I had some trouble fit in this extremely small hole. But a boy pulled and a boy pressed so I could get out.”

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Told her daughter, Keri Wilt, CNN Her great grandmother is Frances Hodgson Burnett, author of The secret garden and A little princess. Despite serious damage to the home, a portrait of the esteemed author remained to the wall. As they move forward, they count their blessings where they can.

“We have nine lives. We have everyone’s safe, everyone is healthy, barely a scratch on anyone,” she told CNN.

Click to learn how to help support the victims and recovery efforts from the floods in Texas here.