A large flood Monday night in Houston, Texas had some residents of the city counting their blessings. With several deaths occurring due to the flood, concerned people decided to take matters into their own hands and help those in danger.
Melanie Moreno knows first-hand the dangers of the flood. Her 19 year old cousin, Rebecca Farris was in her mother's blue Ford sport utility vehicle when it was washed into Little White Oak Bayou in northwest Houston on Monday night. Moreno says there were two or three passengers in the car when Rebecca called her parents.
"We got a voice mail saying, 'Please help! Please help!,'" said Moreno, but there was nothing the family could do. "We tried calling but the phones were off."
The Farris family learned by 1 a.m. Tuesday that Rebecca and her passengers had made it out of the vehicle with the help of good Samaritans. Rebecca was at a hospital being treated for a badly-injured knee on Tuesday morning when flood waters finally receded enough to reveal her vehicle.
"I just know her car floated down the bayou and they took her out safely," Melanie Moreno tells FOX 26 News. "She's okay."
The SUV had become wedged under a bridge and was covered with debris and mud. Dozens of onlookers gathered for the towing, concerned that someone was still in the car. When it was learned it was empty, people speculated on the dangers of making it out of flood waters alive. Several in Houston did not.
"As the flood waters go down, one of the things we're doing is making sure that no one is trapped inside those vehicles," Mayor Annise Parker said at a 10 a.m. news conference.
The city fielded almost a thousand calls for help in the dark hours from Monday night until Tuesday morning. The daylight hours revealed the cleanup work to do: towing flooded cars to clear the roads and removing flood debris. Mayor Parker says the City of Houston is working with residents who are starting to clear damage from their homes and properties.
After this Memorial Day weekend, we remember not only those heroes who fought for our country but also the heroes whom we do not know yet who have come out to help those in need.