Floodwaters from a swollen creek swept her Nissan Quest from Desiree Drive around 5 a.m. Monday. On a normal day, the creek is only a few feet wide.

But days of nonstop rain turned the seemingly harmless waterway into a raging river. It sits at the bottom of a steep hill on a street with no lights. It would've been nearly impossible to see the swift-moving water or how deep it was in the pre-dawn darkness.

Her car was picked up and carried behind an elementary school and lodged in trees. Water was coming in fast, she told a 911 dispatcher.

"Please, come help me," she says, her voice cracking. "Please."

The 911 dispatcher draws silent for a moment. "Alright, ma'am. Just stay as calm as possible."

During the next 12 minutes, the dispatcher would try to reassure Burciaga as she elicited clues as to the caller's exact whereabouts.

It was a neighborhood Burciaga knew well. She'd lived there for the past decade. She was known as the neighborhood mom who would take anyone who needed help to the dentist or the doctor. Fluent in Spanish, she would often act as translator.

"She was a very loving mother, a good wife, a strong woman," said Pedro Burciaga, her husband of 14 years. "She liked helping everyone, and overall she worked very hard. ... She always had a smile for everyone."

As her life teetered in the balance, she described being near a yellow house and tried to give other details of where her vehicle was. The 911 call was one of more than 400 before daybreak Monday that sent rescue crews through the floodwaters of Gwinnett County, a large suburban county northeast of Atlanta.

"My car is turning. Now the wheels is getting up, and I'm going to drown," Burciaga says.

A fire rescue team was at the scene by 5:09 a.m. Police arrived at 5:13 a.m. She was still on the phone with dispatch. The entire roadway was submerged by 5 or 6 feet of water. Nearby parked vehicles were nearly covered by the rushing water. An outbuilding had been carried from its foundation.

"Listen to me. You're not going to drown. Roll down your windows, if you're able to, and get out of your vehicle," the 911 dispatcher says.

"I'm in the back of my car. I don't know if I can break it," Burciaga says.

"Ma'am, if you can break it, break it. Do whatever you can to get out of your vehicle."

"Yes, please, but my car is --"

"It doesn't matter about your car," the dispatcher says. "What matters is your life. We're going to save your life."

A few moments later, the waters intensify. "It's taking me down now," Burciaga says, crying.

"It's taking you down," the dispatcher repeats. "Just stay on the phone with me. I'm right here. I'm gonna stay with you."

"Please! It's going to drown --"

"OK, listen, you're not going to drown. We're going to be there for you. Just stay with me, OK?"

"OK, OK," Burciaga says. Moments later, she shrieks, "Oh my God!"