Heroes rescue flood victims from swamped neighborhoods

Friday, September 20, 2019
Couple waits over 7 hours to be saved from Imelda floods

PORTER, Texas (KTRK) -- Tina and Robert Horne's mid-storm grocery run to Walmart started at 2 p.m. Thursday.

It was nearly 9 p.m. by the time Porter firefighters plucked the waterlogged, scared and worn-out couple from the US-59 feeder road after their car floated in floodwaters.

"I hit that water," Robert said. "Car was floating."

By the time they were rescued, Tina could barely get herself out of the rescue boat.

East Montgomery County took a beating all day Thursday as heavy rain shut down highways, trapping drivers for hours, flooding buildings from Kingwood to Splendora.

The flooding, which every victim we found said rose faster than ever before, forced firefighters and volunteers over flooded streets and into swamped neighborhoods well into the night.

Seven hours after they started, the Hornes were headed home thanks to a neighbor, amazingly still with their grocery bags.

As the firefighters left, they told us they were racing to the next call.

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