West Virginia Native Recalls The Flood That Changed Her Life

A West Virginia woman is giving the world a look at her life after devastating floods destroyed her home.

Autumn Dawn Furby Hopkins, a resident of Elkview, West Virginia, who has blogged about her experience on The Huffington Post, recently shared a look inside her home and neighborhood with photographer and filmmaker Keely Kernan.

“It’s a horrible sensation to see everything that you work for under water,” Hopkins says in the video.

Hopkins’ story caught the attention of many after she wrote about her losses in the June 23 flood on a GoFundMe page, where people have so far pledged over $55,000 to help her and her family. In the video, Hopkins said she and her family have thought about leaving ― both after the flood and after the Elk River chemical spill in 2014 ― but struggle with the decision to go.

“I don’t want to leave here. I don’t want to go anywhere else,” Hopkins says. “But it’s like being driven away.”

Watch Kernan’s video about Hopkins and her home above.

Read more about the West Virginia flooding:

The Flood

How To Help West Virginia Flood Victims

West Virginia Recovering After Worst Flooding In More Than A Century