A Florida family who became trapped following Hurricane Michael had their plea for help answered by another family member who evacuated before the massive Category 4 storm made landfall last week. Amber Gee wanted to see how much damage was done to her grandmother's property in Youngstown, a city just 40 miles from Mexico Beach, which took the brunt of Michael as it made landfall, and decided to check the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's interactive aerial map.
While she was browsing satellite images of her grandmother's property, she found something that shocked her. Somebody had moved logs and used them to spell out "HELP" on the ground. Gee did not realize her family had decided to stay behind and ride out the storm.
Gee's 80-year-old grandmother had evacuated but her aunt, uncle and a family friend remained and became trapped after Michael passed.
"I didn't think it was really going to work... But luckily enough, my uncle, who was staying there and was thinking outside of the box, wrote the word H-E-L-P out." she told ABC News.
Gee alerted the Bay County Emergency Management who dispatched rescue workers to get the family to safety.
"The hurricane has turned everything upside down everywhere," she said. "Some were more fortunate than others. I'm just happy that everybody is safe and sound and, hopefully, soon we will all get through this together and recover from this storm."