A North Carolina couple who survived Hurricane Helene by using their couch as a flotation device thanked God for protecting them and explained how their faith strengthened them in the wake of the disaster that devastated their community.

In September, the hurricane reached Florida’s Big Bend region before wreaking havoc across Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia and Tennessee. Initially making landfall as a Category 4 storm, Helene caused catastrophic destruction to communities in several states.

Howard Ray and his wife, Lisa, were surprised to survive after floodwaters crossed Pensacola and crashed into the trailer while they were inside. Yet they believe God enabled them to escape.

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“I want people to understand that you can’t give up; “You have to push no matter what,” Howard said. Queen City News. “I don’t understand. We shouldn’t be alive; there’s no way, it’s all God.

Queen City News also shared a short video clip that Lisa shot on her phone of the now-barren property where their home used to be located. When water began to fill the trailer while the couple was still inside, Lisa thought they were going to die.

“The trailer started to fill up and it was like (God) opened up a little bit and I had to sit on that couch and we flew away,” he said.

They held on to the couch like a flotation device as the water dragged the couple across the Cane River. At this point the waterline was at least 25 to 30 feet above average, but the couple held on to their makeshift raft.

“I remember holding on to him while he was still on the couch,” Howard recalled. “And I remember him saying, ‘We’re going to drown.’ “And I said, ‘No, if we’re going to drown, we’re going to drown together.'”

Howard recalled floating on the couch for 400 feet before telling his wife to jump. After listening to her husband’s instructions, Lisa grabbed one of the barbed wire fences and used it to pull herself up. The sharp wire cut his hand, but they still used it as a lifeline and eventually took shelter in a garage.

Lisa and her husband stayed in the garage for several hours, waiting for the water to recede.

Howard, a lieutenant with the Pensacola Volunteer Fire Department, eventually returned to Pensacola to see how he could help.

“I came back to Pensacola to help my sons because no matter how much I suffer, I will not leave my sons,” he recalled.

Lisa was later taken to hospital with cuts on her left hand, and the couple continues to recover from her other injuries as a result of the disaster. During her hospital stay, Lisa learned that her friend Michelle Quintero, who worked as a captain for the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, had died in the flood.

“I just fainted,” Lisa recalled. “He was a good person; she’s a great mother. “He has a grandchild and another grandson on the way.”

Due to the flood, Lisa and Howard lost their home and car. Afterwards, they work hard to stand on their own feet. But despite what they went through, the couple did not lose their faith in God, who saved them and helped them in their time of need.

Pleasant Valley Baptist Church is using donations from its disaster relief fund to cover the cost of the couple’s Airbnb stay next year, Queen City News reported.

Two days after the storm, they were reunited with their dog Saddi, who was waiting for them next to the jeep where their house was located.

Lisa knows they’re still alive because “God has a purpose,” but admitted she’s not sure what that is. Her husband believes that God saved them because what they are doing now “shows people that there is a God.”

“I know I may have lost everything, but that doesn’t mean I have to stop and give up,” Howard said. “That’s not who I am.”

Last week, The Christian Post interviewed a Christian chaplain from Cajun Navy 2016, who is helping with relief efforts in Western North Carolina. The nonprofit, also known as Pinnacle Search & Rescue, is among several organizations attacking devastated areas.

Pastor Mitch Collier criticized the federal response to the hurricane, claiming that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was particularly slow to respond to the area. Collier, who has helped with relief efforts during nearly every major storm in the U.S. since 2017, counted the devastation he witnessed from Helene as the worst he had ever seen.

“It’s been tough,” Collier said. “Fortunately, I have the power of God in me, because some people can’t handle the things we’ve seen, some of the things we’ve experienced, some of the destruction we’ve seen trying to help people.”

“God is good. God sent us here. I found some people God led me to. One man told me I saved his life. I said, ‘God saved your life.'”