"I didn't say much. I didn't want to bring trouble because I think, 'we are in the trouble'."

That was how Susanna Erdos (pronounced "air-dosh"), a seven-year resident of Ellenville, described how she spent eleven hours trapped in her car sitting in waist-deep water with her husband of 32 years, Lajos (whom Susanna refers to as "Lollie").

The couple's odyssey began around 7:30 p.m. on June 19 as they made their way home from a friend's home in Walton, a village in Delaware County. As they were driving along Route 206, they began noticing a significant amount of water running across the road from right to left. When they continued to drive on through the rain they were hit by series of large waves that went over the roof of their 2005 Buick Lacrosse, pushing them off the road and into a small grouping of trees.

The couple, both in their 80s, sat in their car for a half-hour when the water began seeping into the car's cabin and rose to their waists. "At first, he (Lajos) tried to get out. But trees were blocking both sides of the car. Then I said that we should stay in the car. I thought it was safer." Fortunately for the Erdos' the rain began to stop around 9 p.m. and the water did not rise any further.

The couple spent the rest of the night in the dark waiting for help. They had no flashlight so when they saw lights moving at some distance down the washed out road they were able to signal with their car's interior dome light.

Around 6:30 a.m. on the morning of June 20, Lajos recalls, "Two men came to the car. They couldn't open the door so they had to break the window and carry my wife out."

The couple explained that, as they were taken to safety on a golf cart, they were surrounded by uprooted trees, rocks and pieces of blacktop covering the road, making it difficult to travel.

After they were brought to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Center set up at the Roscoe Middle School the couple went to the local police station where they called a friend, Tibor Vajda, to bring them back home.

Mrs. Erdos says that she walked into her home a little after noon, just in time to catch "The Young And The Restless", a show she watches everyday. During their interview, both Mr. and Mrs. Erdos said how lucky they felt to have made it through the ordeal. Susanna said, "We were strong. We were strong in spirit." Lajos said, "We were lucky."

At one point, Susanna became very serious and pointed to a picture of a young woman on top of her television. She said, "You see that picture. That is a picture of my mother. During the night I say, 'Mama, help me.' And she did."

Considering the nature of their recent adventures, the couple seemed in good spirits; they were upbeat and joking about the night spent in the floodwaters. Their only concern was the loss of their car.

The Erdos', both of whom are Hungarian immigrants, moved to the Ellenville area in 2000 though they had lived in and around the Hudson Valley for parts of four decades. Lajos worked as both a machinist and baker and Susanna worked in the public library system until they both retired and moved to the Ellenville area.

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