Covington 911 dispatcher receives help after house flood

COVINGTON (WSLS 10) - A Covington 911 dispatcher is sharing her story about choosing to help others when she knew all her belongings were being destroyed.

Diana Patterson was answering distress call after distress call last Thursday night, only to find out her own home here on West Fudge street was also under water, but instead of panicking, she came, grabbed her things, and went back to work.

"I came in here, and this was all covered in mud. This room was mud up to the bottom of the door," said Patterson, as she walked through her house Wednesday.

Her floors, and everything that was sitting on them, were destroyed by the waters of the Jackson River nearby.

"I only cried one time, and that was when I opened the box and all my kids' little golden books. They're books that have gone through all three of my kids. So all those were destroyed and a lot of sentimental stuff like that, but it's still material things," said Patterson.

Patterson says the night of the flood was probably the busiest of her career.

"We have multiple 911 lines, we have multiple admin lines, and every person in that room was answering call after call after call after call," said Patterson.

When she got the call that her own house was flooding, she left to save her medication and her dog, but was quickly back answering phones.

"I was more worried about our first responders. I wasn't so much worried about my house," said Patterson.

Patterson says her past few days have been spent cleaning out her house, with the help of volunteers, but Wednesday, she got an even bigger surprise from her neighborhood church.

Pastor Dennis Nicely says for the time being, they have a place for her to stay.

"We can only handle, we only have the one place to stay, so we can't accommodate 100 people, but we were thank God able to help her, our neighbor," said Nicely.

Patterson says it will be a long time to get back to normal, but she feels blessed all the same.

"I've got all this help and all these blessings, so I'm one of the lucky ones," said Patterson.

Patterson says she does have flood insurance, so in time, she'll be able to repair her floors and carpets, but at this point she says she's just praying for those in Covington and in West Virginia who have it so much worse than she does.