LEESVILLE, Ind. -- A woman swam to safety with her two young children as their SUV sank in a southern Indiana pond after it slid off a snow-slickened road.

Kortni Peek was about a half-mile from home when she lost control of the car on a sharp curve with her daughters -- 8-month-old Maggie and 2-year-old Ella Rose -- inside Wednesday morning.

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Slideshow: Peek Family Thankful For Mom's Quick Action

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"I had been a lifeguard, so I know the severity of the situation and the difficulty of getting out of water," Peek told The Times-Mail of Bedford. "I just knew we weren't going to have long to get out."

Peek, 26, said she was able to free the girls from their car seats and get them out the driver's side window as the car was sinking.

"Looking back, it seemed like it was in slow motion," Peek said. "But we really didn't have that much time."

With Maggie scared because she sensed her mother's fear and Ella Rose perplexed because their "car was swimming," Peek said she hoped the water wouldn't be over her head.

It was, forcing her to swim her daughters ashore.

"It was about eight feet deep, because I was worried the girls were getting too much water and dove under to keep them above, and I would say that's about how deep it was," she said.

After a 10-foot swim, Peek had to toss her children ashore because of the steep bank along the pond in the rural area about 20 miles south of Bloomington.

Peek and the girls then walked to a nearby house, where Debbie Hall helped them out of their soaked clothes and into dry ones.

"It's pretty terrifying to go to the door and see a mother and her two young children drenched," Hall said.

The girls were checked by a doctor and found to be OK.

Peek described the time as the car was sinking as the most scared she's been in her life.

"I knew I couldn't make it if I didn't save both of them," Peek said. "I don't know what hand in it God had, but I know that he granted us another day."

Chief Deputy Tony Siedl of the Lawrence County police praised Peek's effort.

"The car was submerged to the point where only about a foot of it was showing," Siedl said. "It is hard to keep your wits about you and not panic in this type of situation."

Peek's husband, Caleb, and some of his friends spent hours to pull the SUV from the pond.

"I told the guy I was driving with, 'I don't care if my car is destroyed. I am just glad that my family is alright,'" he said.

"I'm glad we're together," Ella Rose Peek said.