Water had already cut off the roads around a Rush County, Indiana, home when emergency crews received the call.

Inside, a mother was trying to keep her 2-year-old daughter alive. Her 13-year-old son was on the phone with 911, and rescuers outside were struggling to reach the family through floodwater that had made several roads impassable.

Getting to Alayna would take more than an ambulance.

The toddler had been found drowning in her family’s flooded basement on Wednesday, Aug. 12, during historic flooding in Indiana. Days later, after being airlifted to Indianapolis and placed on a ventilator in a pediatric ICU, her family shared the first major change in her condition: Alayna had begun breathing on her own.

The Call From a House Surrounded by Water

Alayna was home with her mother, Becky, and her older brother, Liem, as floodwaters rose around their house, according to an account shared by the girl’s aunt, Poshia Bowling, and reported by PEOPLE.

Authorities said they received a report at about 7:30 p.m. that a 2-year-old had drowned at a residence in Rush County. Emergency workers headed toward the home, only to find that flooding had blocked their path in several places.

The house itself was surrounded by deep water.

Inside, the emergency had moved to the basement.

“In the middle of this terrifying emergency, Alayna was found drowning in the flooded basement,” Bowling wrote on a GoFundMe established to help the family with medical and other unexpected expenses.

Becky began CPR.

Liem, only 13, called 911 while his mother worked on his little sister. Bowling said the teenager remained “remarkably calm” during the call.

Still, help had to reach them.

A Farmer Found a Way In

With roads flooded and the family’s home surrounded, a nearby farmer stepped in with equipment that could get through conditions emergency crews couldn’t easily cross.

He brought a tractor.

The farmer helped emergency personnel reach the residence, according to the Rush County Sheriff’s Department. After they got there, first responders took over the lifesaving measures Becky had started.

The tractor then became part of the family’s way out.

Authorities said the farmer helped transport Alayna and her family to safety. From there, the toddler was flown by helicopter to a hospital in Indianapolis for further treatment.

Detective Randy M. Meek of the sheriff’s department thanked both the emergency workers and the farmer who helped reach the home during the flooding.

“Our thoughts are with the child and the family,” Meek said in the department’s statement.

Investigators later determined that what happened to Alayna was an accident.

But for her family, reaching the hospital was only the start.

Then Came the Update Her Family Had Been Waiting For

At the hospital, Alayna was placed on a ventilator in a pediatric intensive care unit. Bowling initially described her niece as “fighting for her life.”

The family watched for any sign that her condition was moving in the right direction.

“We are holding tightly to every bit of hope,” Bowling wrote, saying Alayna had begun showing signs of improvement.

Then, on Sunday, Aug. 16, came the update.

Alayna had begun breathing without the ventilator.

After days that had started with Becky performing CPR in a flooded basement, Liem calling for help and a local farmer using his tractor to reach them, the 2-year-old was now breathing on her own in the hospital.

For her family, that change was big enough to stop and mark.

“There is still a long road ahead for our sweet girl, and we know we aren’t out of the woods yet,” Bowling wrote.

“But today, we are celebrating a HUGE victory,” she added.

The Family Is Watching for the Next Step

The flooding that surrounded Alayna’s home was part of severe weather that caused historic flooding across Indiana. In some areas, the White River reached levels not seen since 1913, according to the Associated Press, as cited by PEOPLE.

At least seven people had died amid the storms and flooding by Sunday. Nearly 130,000 utility customers remained without power, down from a peak of roughly 300,000.

For Alayna’s family, the scale of the disaster has narrowed to a hospital room and a 2-year-old whose recovery is still unfolding.

Bowling’s fundraiser was created to help Becky’s family handle medical bills and other unexpected costs tied to the emergency. She said the family remained grateful for each sign of progress and continued to hope Alayna would keep improving.

The family isn’t saying the danger has passed.

Their latest update is smaller and more concrete than that: after being found in the water, after her mother started CPR, after her brother made the call and a farmer brought rescuers through the flood, Alayna no longer needed the machine to take every breath for her.

On Aug. 16, her aunt wrote that the little girl was doing that part herself.