Miraculous survival stories have continued to surface in the wake of Wednesday’s devastating Grenfell Tower fire in west London. One of such stories involves 39-year-old mother Natasha Elcock, who managed to save her loved ones by flooding her 11th floor apartment.
READ: Baby Dropped From 9th Floor of Burning London Tower Miraculously Caught
As the deadly blaze engulfed the building Wednesday morning, authorities told Elcock and her family to remain in the apartment, The Telegraph reported. Seeing precious time ticking away, Elcock quickly brainstormed how she could protect herself, her boyfriend, and her 6-year-old daughter from a fiery fate.
Then she had it: a stroke of genius. Elcock ran to the bathroom and turned on all the taps.
“I let the bathroom flood. It kept the flat damp,” she told the Daily Star. “It may have saved our lives.”
“We tried the door but it was too hot,” she added. “We had our little girl on the wet floor and we went to the coldest room.”
The three were tapped in the apartment for 90 minutes until they received a phone call telling them that it was safe to evacuate.
“The door was buckling and the windows bubbling and cracking. It was terrifying,” Elcock said.
The desperate mother claims she called emergency services for help nearly 100 times until she was finally transferred to a call center in Glasgow.
Elcock and her family were eventually rescued by a fire crew, who led them out of the building before transporting them to a hospital, where the three were treated for smoke inhalation.
Even the “lucky ones” who escaped Wednesday’s fire with their lives are suffering great financial and emotional hardship after losing their homes and many of their neighbors. A friend and colleague of Elcock set up a crowdfunding page to help cover the family’s costs following the tragedy.
“Right now, they have nothing, so any support would be gratefully received, and I couldn’t think of a more deserving family,” a description on the page reads.
To find out more ways that you can help victims of the Grenfell fire, click here.