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Dramatic video shows the moment a Good Samaritan rushed to save a man trapped by extreme flooding as Hurricane Francine bore down on New Orleans.
Miles Crawford— a 39-year-old, off-duty emergency room nurse at New Orleans’ University Medical Center — told reporter Jonah Gilmore that he had been watching local station WDSU on Wednesday evening when his brother texted him that someone had driven around barricades and under the bridge at Canal Street Underpass.
Crawford, who was in the area, went to ask Gilmore if people needed help shortly before 9 p.m. CDT, at which point he saw a man in the pickup truck, which was slowly submerging in six or seven feet of floodwater.
He needed to break the back window to rescue the driver, so he ran back to his house to grab a hammer. Crawford then took off his boots and socks, ensuring they wouldn’t weigh him down, as he trudged into the water, which was already up to the man’s head.
He told WDSU — which captured the dramatic incident as it unfolded — that the driver had been looking for things in his car before he got out — but there wasn’t any time to spare. Crawford helped him out the backseat of the vehicle and the man struggled a bit, falling into the water.
“I just didn’t want him to go under, or anything,” Crawford later told Gilmore. In the process, Crawford cut his finger, which required a bandage.
When the man was out of the car, members of the New Orleans Fire Department came over to help him to a safe place. About 10 minutes later, the truck had fully submerged. The man who was rescued has not been identified.
Gilmore walked up to Crawford immediately following his heroic efforts. “I just had to go in there and do it. I’m a nurse. So, we gotta save lives, right?” Crawford told him.
Governor Jeff Landry commended Crawford in a press briefing on Thursday.
“I want to thank Miles for that,” he said.
On Thursday, another emotional video showed Ascension Parish Sherrif’s office deputies rescue a woman trapped under a tree in Donaldsonville, a city that’s part of the Baton Rouge metropolitan area.
Responding at around 8 p.m., the officers used chainsaws for 40 minutes to free the woman.
“I need my dog!” the woman screamed, as officers helped to pick her up off the ground.
“After freeing her from under the tree, she was visibly shaken and distressed by the situation. “I am grateful I was able to guide her through breathing exercises to help calm her,” Deputy Laura Mueller said.
“The Good Lord was with her. Six inches one way or the other and it would have crushed her,” Captain Jeff Griffin told reporters.
It is unclear why the woman was outside during the storm. She was transported to an area hospital with non-fatal injuries.
With reporting from The Associated Press
