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American Morning

Sole Survivor

Aired September 22, 2003 - 08:33   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to a heartbreaking story of love and loss. It has been less than three weeks since Robert Rogers and his family were caught in a flash flood in Impeoria, Kansas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD (voice-over): It happened on Labor Day weekend. Robert Rogers' whole family wiped out by massive flooding on an interstate in Emporia, Kansas. All four of his children dead, 8-year- old McKenna, 5-year-old Zachary, 3-year-old Nicholas, and little Alina. She was just 1, adopted from China by Robert and his wife Melissa in January. Melissa also died. Robert was the only survivor. And he says it was god who saved him, and it's god who's getting him through this now.

Left behind is a house full of memories, and music.

Their Christmas songs from the kids. Robert recorded them for Melissa every year.

I talked with Robert Rogers recently about what happened on that terrible day.

ROBERT ROGERS, FAMILY KILLED IN FLOOD: We were not aware of any flood warnings. In fact, that particular creek evidently had not flooded for at least 50 or 100 years or so. It was raining fairly heavily, and there had been a few months of drought in the area, obviously, and then a lot of steady rain, so a lot of runoff. There were just a few inches of water on the ground where we encountered several cars kind of scattered on the highway. And all of four children were still sleeping in the back of the minivan. Tried to maneuver around them and ultimately got trapped by semis and cars on all sides of us.

O'BRIEN: So what happened then?

ROGERS: Well, the waters gradually rose, and we were trapped by the median concrete barrier on our left side, and we just made every decision for our family jointly, and with very care to do what was best. The water was rushing so fast that the thought of trying to carry them to safety one at a time or two at a time potentially slipping or dropping one or whatever was just not an option.

O'BRIEN: Give me a sense inside the van, where you have McKenna, your oldest daughter, 8 years old, certainly knew something was wrong. ROGERS: She woke up as the water started rising to the seat cushions, and touched her feet, obviously, and her blanket, and other articles started getting wet, and that was, you know, causing distress a bit for her, and she started crying. When she started crying, my son Nicholas, the 3-year-old started crying, and daughter Alina, 1- year-old started crying. We started speaking some scripture that God is our strength, God is our refuge and ever-present help in time of trouble.

O'BRIEN: Everyone was lost but you. You kicked out your window, the water came in, you got out, everyone was lost.

ROGERS: Well, after the eyewitnesses say about a seven-foot wave of water came, washed were eight of these 12,000 pound concrete medians across two lanes of traffic and down the embankment, our van was right in the center of it, evidently, and went straight down about a 30-foot embankment. My wife had been driving. She was still in the driver's seat. She was yelling out "Jesus save us, Jesus save us."

And our only choice was through the window. She had sandals on, and I still had my shoes on, so we decided, and I said I'm going to kick out the window, and if there's any chance I wanted to lead my family to safety. So we changed seats and I kicked out the window, and the pressure of the water, we were essentially in a waterfall. I was instantly sucked out. My wife and daughter were also out of their seatbelts at that point. She was found about two miles from the site, so my guess is that she was probably sucked out right away, too.

O'BRIEN: Describe for me the depth of your loss, because I think for anyone who loses an entire family in a horrible tragedy, it's -- with little children. When we heard the stories our hearts utterly broke for you, absolutely. How are you able to sit up and form sentences, and take one step in front of the next each and every day? It's only been a little bit of time.

ROGERS: Yes, again by the grace of God. I've lived a blessed and abundant life with our family. I've known Melissa for 13 years and they've been wonderful. You know, I've been a father for eight years. And we walked this every day as -- putting our family as a priority, time to pray together and to eat together, and to play together and to hug them every day. And our faith has been so strengthened over the years through trials. Our son Zachary with Down's Syndrome was an enormous challenge, and my wife literally almost died through a miscarriage at one point. So we've put our trust in God so many times, and that's come through now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: And Robert says he's not bitter, and it's his faith that's getting him through it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired September 22, 2003 - 08:33   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to a heartbreaking story of love and loss. It has been less than three weeks since Robert Rogers and his family were caught in a flash flood in Impeoria, Kansas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD (voice-over): It happened on Labor Day weekend. Robert Rogers' whole family wiped out by massive flooding on an interstate in Emporia, Kansas. All four of his children dead, 8-year- old McKenna, 5-year-old Zachary, 3-year-old Nicholas, and little Alina. She was just 1, adopted from China by Robert and his wife Melissa in January. Melissa also died. Robert was the only survivor. And he says it was god who saved him, and it's god who's getting him through this now.

Left behind is a house full of memories, and music.

Their Christmas songs from the kids. Robert recorded them for Melissa every year.

I talked with Robert Rogers recently about what happened on that terrible day.

ROBERT ROGERS, FAMILY KILLED IN FLOOD: We were not aware of any flood warnings. In fact, that particular creek evidently had not flooded for at least 50 or 100 years or so. It was raining fairly heavily, and there had been a few months of drought in the area, obviously, and then a lot of steady rain, so a lot of runoff. There were just a few inches of water on the ground where we encountered several cars kind of scattered on the highway. And all of four children were still sleeping in the back of the minivan. Tried to maneuver around them and ultimately got trapped by semis and cars on all sides of us.

O'BRIEN: So what happened then?

ROGERS: Well, the waters gradually rose, and we were trapped by the median concrete barrier on our left side, and we just made every decision for our family jointly, and with very care to do what was best. The water was rushing so fast that the thought of trying to carry them to safety one at a time or two at a time potentially slipping or dropping one or whatever was just not an option.

O'BRIEN: Give me a sense inside the van, where you have McKenna, your oldest daughter, 8 years old, certainly knew something was wrong. ROGERS: She woke up as the water started rising to the seat cushions, and touched her feet, obviously, and her blanket, and other articles started getting wet, and that was, you know, causing distress a bit for her, and she started crying. When she started crying, my son Nicholas, the 3-year-old started crying, and daughter Alina, 1- year-old started crying. We started speaking some scripture that God is our strength, God is our refuge and ever-present help in time of trouble.

O'BRIEN: Everyone was lost but you. You kicked out your window, the water came in, you got out, everyone was lost.

ROGERS: Well, after the eyewitnesses say about a seven-foot wave of water came, washed were eight of these 12,000 pound concrete medians across two lanes of traffic and down the embankment, our van was right in the center of it, evidently, and went straight down about a 30-foot embankment. My wife had been driving. She was still in the driver's seat. She was yelling out "Jesus save us, Jesus save us."

And our only choice was through the window. She had sandals on, and I still had my shoes on, so we decided, and I said I'm going to kick out the window, and if there's any chance I wanted to lead my family to safety. So we changed seats and I kicked out the window, and the pressure of the water, we were essentially in a waterfall. I was instantly sucked out. My wife and daughter were also out of their seatbelts at that point. She was found about two miles from the site, so my guess is that she was probably sucked out right away, too.

O'BRIEN: Describe for me the depth of your loss, because I think for anyone who loses an entire family in a horrible tragedy, it's -- with little children. When we heard the stories our hearts utterly broke for you, absolutely. How are you able to sit up and form sentences, and take one step in front of the next each and every day? It's only been a little bit of time.

ROGERS: Yes, again by the grace of God. I've lived a blessed and abundant life with our family. I've known Melissa for 13 years and they've been wonderful. You know, I've been a father for eight years. And we walked this every day as -- putting our family as a priority, time to pray together and to eat together, and to play together and to hug them every day. And our faith has been so strengthened over the years through trials. Our son Zachary with Down's Syndrome was an enormous challenge, and my wife literally almost died through a miscarriage at one point. So we've put our trust in God so many times, and that's come through now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: And Robert says he's not bitter, and it's his faith that's getting him through it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com