Family rescued by boat during Thursday's torrential floods

PITTSBURGH — A McCandless family is cleaning out their dream home after it flooded Thursday.

The water was so high and flowing so fast, they had to be rescued by boat.

The young couple and their toddler moved into the home a year ago and had already dealt with flooding several times.

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"I had my son and he had no idea what was going on. I'm just holding on to him hoping that he doesn't feel the panic that I felt," said Nicole Schweiger.

Within a matter of minutes, the creek that wraps around their home on Pine Creek Road in McCandless swelled.

"I ran down to the garage. It was so full that our pump would not pump it out fast enough. I came back around it was already filling the basement. It was pouring in through the front door," Schweiger said.

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Water rushed in from everywhere, leaving Schweiger and her 2-year-old son stranded.

"Your mind's racing, hoping that there are people there to get them back to safety," Schweiger said.

A photo of the rescue is now on a GoFundMe page organized by the creator of the Facebook group Access McCandless. The link has been circulating on social media, and since the flood, the Schweigers have gotten a whole lot of help.

"People want to offer fans and bring water down and offer, the NA wrestling team offered to come down and help us clean out our garage," Schweiger said.

The fundraiser is already halfway to its goal, overwhelming the young couple and giving them hope.

The family said they've been told by the township that they can put up a wall to stop the creek from flooding onto their property.

Cox Media Group