Couple Escapes Texas Flood, but Thought They Lost Everything. Then They Found Their Wedding Album While Cleaning Up (Exclusive)

Everything was destroyed in Nathan and Audrey Rich’s home in Center Point, Texas, but the couple's wet and soggy wedding photo album was recovered the day after the devastating floods swept through the central portion of the state.

The couple tells PEOPLE that they are overwhelmed “in a good way” by the way their community has come together to help each other.

“It's really restored our faith in humanity,” says Audrey Rich, a 23-year-old bank teller.

Early on the morning of Friday, July 4, a friend called Audrey, woke her up and told her to go look outside. She opened the door and saw a house floating down the river.

Her husband, 22-year-old Nathan Rich, was already trying to rescue the couples 17 chickens, 3 ducks, four quail and three cats.

Audrey grabbed sentimental items like her grandfather’s wallet and pocket knife. As she frantically packed a bag of clothes, she saw water rising up through the floorboards in their more than 100 year-old two-bedroom, two-bath home.

The Riches are one of hundreds of people who were caught in the devastating floods that tore through the state on the Fourth of July. To date, more than 160 people are still missing following the flash floods; an additional 119 people have been confirmed dead.

As for Audrey and Nathan, their home is located about 100 to 150 yards from the river. It wasn’t raining that morning, but the river rose and rapidly reached their house.

“Everything happened so fast,” Nathan, who owns a diesel repair shop behind his home, says. “The water wasn’t coming up in the doors or the walls, it was coming up through the floor. It was literally out of a horror movie.”

The friend who called and woke Audrey came to their home and helped Audrey and her mother escape the house, pulling on the door as she and her mother pushed against the fast-moving current.

“If he wasn’t there, we may not have been able to get out,” Audrey says.

The couple and Audrey’s parents were able to escape to dry land. Before Nathan's wet phone died, he was able to call his mother in Lubbock, who booked a hotel room, bought groceries and supplies and drove six hours to meet them. The next day, on Saturday, July 5 at 9 a.m. local time, there were 25 people at their home to help clean up and salvage belongings.

“Every one of them with a squeegee and a broom in their hand,” Nathan adds. “It was overwhelming the amount of people that cared and wanted to help.”

During clean up, they found their coffee table outside the house under the carport, as well as their water-soaked wedding album. Happily, Audrey had the flash drive in her computer bag in the car, so she can recreate it.

“The community has been so fantastic,” Audrey tells PEOPLE, adding, "it makes us not want to leave.”

Friends and strangers volunteered to help rebuild their home and business. The couple say they feel even more entrenched in their community now.

“How are you supposed to leave somewhere that helped you so much?” Nathan asks.

And because so many people have helped them, they wanted to give back too. When the fire department asked for flashlights, Ziploc bags and latex gloves, Audrey and Nathan immediately went to the store and bought supplies.

“Everybody had helped us so much that we wanted to do something,” Nathan says.

Additionally, a woman offered the couple a place to stay as long as they need at her Airbnb.

“She’s like, ‘Stay a day, stay a month. However long you need,’ " Nathan shares. “That’s been offered all over. We have a place to stay in almost every town in Texas.”