A Houston television crew saved the life of a truck driver stranded in the rising flood waters caused by Harvey on Sunday morning, reports the Daily Beast.
KHOU reporter Brandi Smith was braving the storm and broadcasting live from north Houston’s beltway. She saw a tractor-trailer surrounded by water, and the cab was filling up with water with the drive still inside.
“The lights are going on this truck and the windshield wipers are going and as we get a little closer, it does look like there is someone inside. There is movement inside of this truck,” Smith said at the time.
She realized someone was inside the truck, and she called out to the driver, asking if he was okay, and if he could get on top of his vehicle.
“Do not climb into the water,” she said to the man, according to the Daily Beast.
Smith then flagged down a Harris County Sheriff’s Office truck and boat. The passengers did not know about the stranded driver. She told viewers:
“There is water filling his cab and I’m trying not to break your eardrums as I scream. Sir, there is a boat here!”
The sheriff’s officials prepared to put their boat in the water, and one of them told Smith that a truck driver in the same location died last year when he was stranded in flood waters. The officer said they had to dive for him because he died and went underwater.
Smith yelled to the man, telling him that the officers were putting the boat in the water. She then turns back to the viewers, her voice cracking.
“I cannot imagine how terrifying it would be to be in that place right now. Put yourself in that place: your car is filling with water. Help is on the way, he is incredibly lucky,” she said.
Meanwhile, her office at KHOU was flooding.
Water pouring in the front door of channel 11 on Sunday morning. #khou11 #Houston pic.twitter.com/X5kDrCpdXN
— The Bishop (@BillBishopKHOU) August 27, 2017
“Two feet of water in the station and they are evacuating the building right now,” she told the Daily Beast. “Those are the kind of circumstances that we are dealing with. catastrophic, dire, life-threatening. Do not take any chances.”
KHOU’s managing editor tweeted about the flooding in the office as it happened.
Though the flooding at KHOU knocked Smith off air, she and her cameraman captured the driver’s rescue on Facebook.
“I just thank God that you all were here to put me back on land safely,” the driver told Smith, reports the Daily Beast.
“This is going to sound rude, but, can I hug you?” Smith then asked.
Watch the full viral video above.
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