Story highlights The wedding was planned for next week

The dress was stashed in a wardrobe, inches above the water

(CNN) For many victims of Hurricane Harvey, it was the memories of lifetimes that washed away in raging floodwaters.

For Kyle Parry and Stephanie Hoekstra it was their future -- their wedding, planned for next week; and her wedding dress, stored in his home -- that lay in the flood's path.

As the water in Parry's home in Lumberton, near Beaumont, Texas, began to rise Monday, he salvaged what he could. His house had avoided the brunt of the storm until then, and the 35-year-old firefighter had worked back-to-back shifts for days rescuing people from their homes.

He elevated his beloved dirt bikes in his kitchen, he took his two dogs and their six puppies, and, before evacuating, he went into the spare room. He grabbed his fiancee's wedding dress and stuffed it into the top corner of the wardrobe, hoping it would stay dry.

"A couple of days go by and I needed to get back there. I needed to see the house for myself," Parry said.

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