Lilly Elliott, 8, stands next to her play house which was washed around the family's residence at 330 Denny Road, Middlesex Township, during the storm Tuesday night. Lilly and her two siblings were rescued by kayak from the home of her grandmother, Karla Horanic.

MIDDLESEX TWP — Karla Horanic was asleep when her neighbor knocked on her front door to warn her that floodwaters were overtaking her home at 330 Denny Road.

The water was already chest high, she said, by the time she stepped off her front porch around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday. The frantic efforts began to save the cars and rescue her family, including three grandchildren, by kayak through the drenching downpour.

“It was already too late,” she said.

Horanic, whose car was at the end of the driveway, said the water covered her feet as she drove it up onto the road. Somehow, she found time to call 911.

“I was sitting in water as I was driving,” Horanic said.

Her son, Alec Battin, sat down in his Honda Civic in water up to the windshield and got the car started. He maneuvered it through a spot they punched out of the wooden fence to get the cars out of the driveway.

“He was able to get in and drive,” Horanic said.

Horanic said her neighbor, Kevin Weible, and his father, Kevin, helped by pushing the car.

Son-in-law Joseph Elliott was not as fortunate trying to move a white van loaded with tools he needs for his job as an electrician. It sank in the yard that was quickly filling with debris moved by the flood water, such as railroad ties and metal stakes.

The Middlesex Township Volunteer Fire Department, fire rescue, police and Quality EMS arrived on the scene.

The rushing water had reached the top of the first floor of the house with red siding.

“The water totally blew my basement door open,” Horanic said.

Horanic's daughter, Alyssa Battin, was still in the house keeping the Elliott children — ages 2, 4 and 8 — calm.

She remembered the emergency responders said, “Everyone get out of the house, now.”

Her son's kayak came floating around the side of the building. They grabbed it and carried it to the porch and dumped the water out.

The force of the water carried Horanic's lawn tractor across the yard and pulled the children's play house from its spot behind the creek.

Horanic said firefighters warned family members about walking through the flooded area. They loaded up the kids in the kayak and walked it to the road.

Her neighbors helped rescue the dogs. The gas company turned off the utility.

Everyone — dogs included — squeezed into Horanic's Kia and found refuge at a friend's home.

The family was trying to clean up today at the home, which sits across from the entrance to the Weatherburn development. Fish from their pond are strewn about the yard. Their ducks and chickens floated off, but the family hopes they will return. Their garden is in the creek.

“It was just beautiful when I bought this house. The creek wasn't so wide,” said Horanic, a real estate agent who has lived there since 2007 when the Harris farm was across the road.

The family doesn't know if the home is safe to stay in. Horanic said there was still six feet of water in her basement Wednesday afternoon.

She doesn't have content insurance and the insurance she has doesn't cover hotel stays.

“We have nowhere to go,” she said. “The value of my home is destroyed.”