Philadelphia native speaks to Action News after just moving to Texas

One local mother is relieved to know her daughter and granddaughter are safe.

The story really begins a few weeks ago when LaToya Williams of Philadelphia moved to the little city of Orange, Texas, near the Louisiana border.

LaToya's mother, Charmaine Tyler says, conditions there only turned dire over the past 24 hours or so.

She said, "They're running out of food because everywhere in that area where the supermarket is, everything is flooded, so they are out of food and water."

LaToya sent Action News photos taken from her second floor apartment, where you can see not only is the region flooded out, but in this part of Texas, the rain is still falling.

We spoke with LaToya by phone Wednesday morning, and she says, rescue boats started making their way to her building, but turned back, fearing their safety.

"We have been calling for boats, and reaching out to people to come and get us. And every time a boat comes down our road, people in another complex are out there, shooting at the boats. So the boats turned around, and no one has come back to get us," Latoya said.

This afternoon, we spoke again with LaToya, who says since our last discussion Wednesday morning, family-friends arrived by boat to help her evacuate. But LaToya and her 12-year-old daughter had to walk in waist-deep water in the rain for several blocks to reach them because the rescuers couldn't safely reach her building.

Those family-friends then got LaToya and her daughter to higher ground, and went on to drive them to a cousin's home in the town of Sulphur, Louisiana, where the flooding has been minimal.

LaToya's mom says she's relieved, but still praying for all of Harvey's victims.

Tyler said there's a lot of people trapped there still," Tyler said.

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