A heroic New Jersey woman who drowned while trying to save her neighbors from flash floods last week made one last call to her mom as the floodwaters reached her neck.
Shakia Garrett, 33, had been visiting her neighbors Jose Torres, 71, Rosa Espinal, 72, and their 38-year-old son, Jose, in the city of Elizabeth on Wednesday.
She returned home before remnants of Hurricane Ida slammed into the area on Wednesday.
But as the floodwaters began to rise, Shakia rushed back to their Oakwood Plaza apartment in an attempt to rescue the family.
But mom Sharon told NJ.com how she got a desperate call from her daughter as flash flooding hit the city, and the apartment complex was overwhelmed.
In the brief phone call, Shakia said: 'I can't swim, Mommy.'
'She was crying,' said Sharon, who lives just three miles away. 'We just couldn't get to her.'
The four got trapped, and were among the 27 confirmed deaths in New Jersey.
Officials are still searching for four others who were swept away in the floods.
Shakia Garrett, 33, died in the floodwaters in New Jersey while trying to help rescue a family from her apartment building last Wednesday
The Oakwood Plaza Apartments were completely flooded in Tropical Depression Ida
A general view inside one of the apartments at Oakwood Plaza, where 600 families were displaced in the aftermath of the storm
The level of water reached is seen inside one of the apartments
One family left behind a picture as they were forced to evacuate from the home
Strong winds from the tropical depression piled cars on top of each other outside the apartment complex in Elizabeth, New Jersey
According to NJ.com, Shakia was visiting with the family in their Elizabeth home prior to the storm rampaging through the state, but went home before the storm hit.
Later, though, she rushed back to the Torres' Oakwood Plaza apartment as the water started to rise.
'As the water started getting crazier,' she tried to get them out of there,' family friend Salaam Ismiall, the director of the National United Youth Council Inc., told the outlet.
He noted that it did not take long for the water to reach more than a dozen feet, saying 'it burst through the toilet and started gushing.'
'I consider her a hero,' he said of Shakia, whose mother described her as 'the sweetest girl who got along with everybody.
'She had a very good heart,' she said.
An emergency rescue raft was used to rescue some of the residents
One of the residents is seen arguing with J. Christian Bollwage, right, the mayor of Elizabeth
A woman was clearly devastated by the loss of her apartment
Following the announcement of her death last week, social media tributes started pouring in, with friends an family members asking for help to cover the cost of her funeral.
The Smith Funeral Home in Elizabeth is now 'working with the family' to reduce the cost, aiming to raise $10,000 for Shakia's funeral.
'We want the community to come together and give her a decent burial,' Ismiall said. 'I hope people come through.'
As of Monday, a GoFundMe for her family raised $745.
Smith is also asking the community to donate gift cards, clothes and other necessities for the 600 families who have been displaced from Oakwood.
She said she the response thus far 'has been wonderful,' with people donating diapers, wipes, toothbrushes and clothes to the families, and volunteers coming in to sort all of the supplies.
A GoFundMe set up for Shakia Garrett's family raised $745 as of Monday
Flowers are seen on a makeshift memorial at the door of one of the four dead victims
Meanwhile, about 20 miles north, rescue workers are continuing to search for two childhood friends - Nidhi Rana, 18, and Ayush Rana, 21 - who were swept into a storm drain in Passaic during the intense flooding.
'It's such a challenge because there is no moving forward,' Passaic Mayor Hector Lorna told CNN.
'It's almost like grief in limbo,' he said. 'You don't know what's going on. You don't know whether you're grieving a loss or you are still concerned whether missing individuals an be fond - even though everything may say they won't, you still hope for the best.'
New Jersey has had the highest confirmed death rate of any state from the storm, which originally slammed into Louisiana on August 29 as a Category Four
