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ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. – An elderly St. Charles County woman whose home is slowly being surrounded by water is refusing to leave despite warnings from her son and local fire officials.

Officials are strongly suggesting she leave but they can’t force the 87-year-old out.

The woman’s home is located along Highway C about two miles from where it intersects with Salt River Road. The water is about 50 feet from her home and still rising.

Central Fire and County District firefighters got a call from the woman’s son, who said he was concerned about her and asked if they could rescue her.

The fire district deployed a boat with three crew members and headed to her home. When they got there, the woman refused to leave.

The crew checked the woman’s vital signs; she was okay and said she had enough food, water, and medicine. She also told firefighters she has another son who lives nearby who is checking on her.

“We made contact. She’s doing well, refusing to leave at this time,” said Battalion Chief David Maupin, Central Fire and County District. “That water is not quite into her home but with the cresting river coming up, we may be very well back out there in a few more days. We did everything we could, we checked on her well-being, checked her health, and she came up pretty clean and healthy.”

Some of these rural homes in this section St. Charles County took on so much water in the Flood of ’93 some residents were standing on their roofs, waiting to get rescued. It’s not expected to be that bad this year but the with the river on the rise and not cresting until Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning next week, many of the homes are likely to have water in them.

“I’ve got two cats that still live in the house, so I come in and feed them and do the litter box thing and the whole deal, try to check on things. It’s all still good down there. We all try to stick together down here and help each other out,” said flood victim Mike Nelson. “I have probably about three foot of water in my basement right now; we’ll see what it does here. You know, when there’s not a bunch of water on your backyard, it’s a beautiful place to be, it’s paradise, but you deal with the water from time to time.”