RICHMOND, Va. — Twenty years after she survived the remnants of Hurricane Gaston, JoAnna Korkos shared the harrowing experience that nearly claimed her life during the catastrophic flooding in Richmond on August 30, 2004.
Korkos, then a 24-year-old student at Virginia Commonwealth University, was caught in a deluge as she attempted to drive home to Prince George County.
The storm had stalled over the city, bringing Broad Street traffic to a standstill.
“I moved a block in an hour like there was nowhere for people to go, everything was just stopped,” Korkos said. “The rain was deafening; you could not hear yourself think.”
As the rain intensified, Korkos watched helplessly as the water level in her car rose, and the vehicles in front of her were swept away.
“It was just a scary moment, I’ve never seen anything like this. I thought I was going to die, that’s how scary it was,” she said. “I just remember that the water was coming in my car, and I was watching it rise and trying to decide what I was going to do.”