Wauwatosa family, dogs and goldfish rescued from flooded home

WAUWATOSA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Katie Knitter and her family woke in their Wauwatosa home early Sunday morning to see it filled with several feet of flood water.

"My husband stepped out of bed and into water and we had no idea what was going on," said Knitter. "We stepped out into our living room and looked out the window, and it looked like we were in the middle of an ocean.”

Watching in horror as the water continued to rise, they called 9-1-1 and woke up their 5-year-old daughter Meredith.

"I had to wake her up and say hey there’s a fireman on the porch," said Knitter. "He’s going to take us in a boat to safety, so you know she was sobbing and terrified it was all surreal.”

Packing a small bag of belongings, the family, two dogs and even their daughters beloved goldfish, Rodeo, boarded the rescue boat.

"He's become a member of the family and I just knew that my daughter was about to lose so much," said Knitter. "And I thought if I can do one thing for her, I can save this goldfish and so we put the goldfish in water, in a little Tupperware in the kitchen and we handed into a fireman and asked him to save our fish."

Knitter devastated as she walks through what's left of her home, having to tear it apart from the ground up.

"Nothing that touched the ground could really be salvaged," said Knitter. "All our furniture is gone our rugs. Anything in lower cabinets, closet, floors is all gone. It’s all on my lawn as you can see."

Her family left displaced, with both of their cars totaled and having to toss all their belongings to the curb.

“Anything sentimental is gone and I broke down and I just sobbed over my stuff and it’s just you know we have our memories, but that’s all we have,” said Knitter.

Knitter says like many others in the neighborhood, she doesn't have flood insurance, as it's never been a problem for the area, so all the costs are coming out of their own pockets.

There is a GoFundMe to support the Knitter family here.