In the aftermath of a severe storm that caused historic levels of rainfall on Sunday, August 18, the Horvath family has lost vehicles, countless belongings, and the ability to live in their South Main Street home. One family member nearly lost his life trying to save important papers before they were washed away.

Yet in the aftermath, family and friends immediately began helping them recover what they can. A GoFundMe campaign is giving the family hope for the future while being reminded that they have always helped others.

Days after the storm, there were still some drawers in the kitchen that have water inside of them. The house has no electricity. Furniture and countless other miscellaneous items are sprawled all over the patio and backyard waiting to dry.

Tom and Maria Horvath, as well as family and friends, are working to sort through all of the damage caused by the storm. According to Maria, everything happened so fast late Sunday afternoon.

“The water was up to the driveway … and then I saw it go all the way up to the patio. And I was looking at the radar and they said there will be another two inches of rain, so I thought we should be okay,” Maria said Wednesday morning, walking through her damaged home with The Newtown Bee. “Then we got almost 13 inches of rain.”

This is especially devastating to the Horvaths, who immigrated as political refugees from Hungary to the United States in the early 1980s with the hope of building a better life for their children. Since buying their Newtown house in 2002, they have been rebuilding and working on improving their home.

When they were looking at the property they were told it had a knockdown house, and that they would have to knock it down and repair it. Maria says she and Tom had to “rip out everything to studs,” and that just about everything had to be rebuilt.

“I always said, ‘This house is never going to be finished,’ because you need money for everything and it takes time. But we invested into our boys, and when we came to this country, we came for freedom … we came here to have a better life for them,” Maria said.

On Sunday, that dream house they spent decades raising their children and making memories in flooded with around five feet of water.

A few rooms, such as the family room and the entrance room, have their floors torn off to now reveal wooden paneling. Much of the furniture will have to be thrown away after being ruined by water. Maria said this week “pretty much whatever was below five feet, this all has to go.”

Outside, Maria’s raspberry patch was destroyed. Tom, who was excited to pursue a lifelong passion and start collecting cars after retiring a few years ago, had several of his cars get totally submerged. Those cars, Maria says, will at the very least be able to be donated for parts.

The Horvaths live at 220 South Main Street. The Pootatuck River runs to the west and south of their property. The Pootatuck overflowed on Sunday, and then flowed over the Horvath property, including a large outbuilding and their home.

The main issue they faced, Public Works Director Fred Hurley said this week, was the destruction of the railroad bridge on the opposite side of South Main Street/Route 25. When that collapsed, the debris that fell into the river blocked up the culverts and caused the water level to rise ten feet higher than normal. This was in addition to all of the rainfall.

Maria also recently spoke to Land Use Director Rob Sibley, who said that in addition to the destruction of the railroad bridge, the collapse of two nearby dams also contributed to the high water levels.

It was in front of their home, in fact, on South Main Street near Bryan Lane, that many vehicles were also caught up by the swollen Pootatuck on Sunday. Multiple water rescues had to be done by local first responders after drivers and passengers found themselves in danger by the same water that destroyed the Tom and Maria’s home, and very nearly took one of their lives.

Rescue From The Basement

As Maria watched the water swallow her backyard on Sunday, she called 911. She was initially told they could not do anything since there was so much flooding on the roads, and that they could only go out if it was life or death. She says that she called a second time after the water rose even higher, but got the same response.

With the water still coming in, Tom wanted to go down into the basement and save important belongings such as birth certificates and passports. He told Maria to stay where she was because he knew he would have to go down and wade through about five feet of water in the backyard to get to the basement door.

Despite also having to wade through water in the basement, Tom says he was able to save at least some of the things he wanted. The moment he started to head out of the basement, Tom says that he saw the door he’d gone through just a minute before open.

“As soon as I looked at the door, I saw that the water from outside was a foot higher, coming and gushing in through the door because we kept that door locked,” Tom explained. “But then the striker gave, so it ripped through because there was too much pressure there.”

After trying and failing to close the door, Tom realized he could not leave the way he came. He knew he would be unable to swim against the incoming wave of water. He said he then started moving in the opposite direction, trying to escape through the stairway or hatch exits.

“I thought, ‘If I’m up here right now, I’ll be going down into even deeper water, but that’s the only way to the stairway or the hatch way,’” Tom said.

Maria saw the wave of water rush in, and, realizing that Tom was trapped, called 911 one more time.

“Thank God Botsford [Fire Rescue] was close by. They came out and a policeman was rushing in, and I waved him down … and showed him the basement door,” Maria said.

By then, the water had risen even further. Three Botsford firefighters came in, and Maria says that they tried to figure out what to do because they could smell something concerning. When one of them asked Maria where her electrical outlet was, she told them it was underwater. That’s when she was told they could not go in to the basement.

“So one firefighter — thank God for him, and I’m going to go visit them after things clear up and thank them because they saved his life — came up and said, ‘If you have a broom, I’m going to go down and try to find him,’” Maria said.

Tom could hear yelling and tried to yell back, but figured no one could hear him since no one directly responded to him. He said “the last thing I wanted to do is to make sure the power was off. In the meantime, the lights went out, so I knew that we lost power, but I still wanted to shut off the breaker.”

By the time he was in the lower part of the basement, the water levels were around six feet tall. He knew that, he said, because he is 5’9” tall and had to go on his tiptoes to get air. It eventually got to the point where he could not walk and he had to swim against floating items, like the fridge and freezer, that blocked his movement, he said.

The basement ceiling had also collapsed while Tom was down there, so he had to navigate against insulation and other rubble.

“Finally I reached the stairway about four-five feet, and the guys were already on the low steps there, pushing a broomstick towards me. And that’s what I grabbed,” Tom said. “They pulled me to the stairway and luckily made it out.”

Tom says he probably had about another minute with the way it was rising before he reached the rafters and would have had to take air between them.

What kept Maria’s hope alive then was her belief in her husband and his strength. She reminded herself of his military background in Hungary, and how he rode his motorcycle to Alaska and back on his own all because he wanted to do it one summer.

“So I said, ‘I know he’s gonna make it,’ but when I saw that ten feet of water, I said, ‘Please God, give enough strength for him,’” Maria said.

Maria says she was also concerned because Tom had fallen on some rocks while they were trying to build a stone wall, and lost his glasses and hearing aid. Tom did go to the ER later that night because his wrist was swollen. He had fractured his wrist and is now wearing a brace.

Maria said she is “incredibly grateful” towards all first responders, from 911 operators to firefighters to police, for their immense support and empathy.

“The firefighters, they are heroes. Botsford is really our heroes, and everybody who is in the fire department, because they could not be nicer. And the police department, too ... They were unbelievable, and I can’t thank them enough for saving his life,” Maria said. “And I could hear it in the 911 operators’ voices that they feel bad that there wasn’t anything they can do because of the weather.”

Looking To Rebuild

After the devastation that came with the storm, Maria and Tom have not been alone in rebuilding their livelihood. All three of Tom and Maria’s boys — Dayton, Tarren, and Nathyn — immediately traveled to the home of their parents when they heard the news.

Tarren said, “as soon as we got the pictures Sunday night, there was no question. At 5 am Monday morning, we were on our way up.”

Dayton drove up with his fiancée Jen from Washington D.C., Tarren from northern Virginia, and Nathyn from Hamden. Now the boys are going through old childhood belongings like music sheets and old boxes they made in school. Maria says it broke her heart because she could feel how much the situation hurt them, too.

“We were ready to have our grandkids and family here for a lot more years. And then when you look at the property, it’s just scary at the moment,” Maria said.

Tarren’s wife Jessica Horvath set up a GoFundMe to help support the family after the devastating flood. These donations will go towards home repairs, replacing lost belongings such as furniture and appliances, and immediate needs like temporary food, clothing, and housing.

Maria says that she was hesitant to have a GoFundMe at first because she didn’t want to beg for help or ask for things, and that she was brought up to not be selfish and to always try to help others.

“And then one of my friends said, ‘This is the time to [receive] back, because you feed everyone and give everybody so much.’ … I appreciate everything. I appreciate all those years of being part of the community, with such wonderful people,” Maria said. “I just can’t thank people enough for helping us.”

To support the Horvath family, donate to their GoFundMe, gofundme.com/f/help-the-horvath-family-rebuild-after-devastating-flooding.

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Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.