Teen saves horse trapped by Harvey's rising floodwaters with dad's help
For days, Chance Ward and his son have been wading through deep water on horseback to save animals trapped by Tropical Storm Harvey's torrential rain.
Ward, of Cleveland, Texas, shared pictures and videos of their rescue efforts on Facebook, highlighting just how devastated the region has become. One video that shows his 17-year-old son, Rowdy, letting loose a horse locked inside a pen as water rises above the fidgety animal's legs has gone viral, reaching 8.9 million views since it was posted Monday.
"This is what we do, we help livestock. We try to help people," Ward wrote on Facebook.
On Tuesday, Ward posted he had saved another four horses and he worked with several others to bring hundreds of cattle to higher ground. Another video shows him helping a man and his swimming dog. Mashable reached out to Ward for further comment.
In a touching Facebook post, Ward reflects on helping the animals in need alongside his son.
There is a lot of sad out of this storm, but I look at the positive. I have helped in numerous floods with livestock. We were able to swim in and save four of these horses today. One of the greatest feelings in the world is having my best partner by my side. My 17 year old son. If you look you can see us talking as this is no big deal. There are a lot of great cowboys, plenty that are willing to do the same as us.
Harvey, which made landfall as a powerful hurricane on Friday and has continued to burden the Gulf Coast of Texas as a tropical storm, has set an all-time continental U.S. rainfall record of 51.88 inches.
The rain slowed Tuesday evening in the Houston area, but the flooding emergencies continue. Harvey's wet wrath will hit Louisiana, coastal Mississippi, and Alabama, as well.
Ward, his son, and their fellow helpers are not the only citizen saviors. Others have also come out to help people trapped by the devastating flood waters in Texas, including volunteer-led grassroots organizations such as the Cajun Navy, Louisiana Navy, and Texas Navy.
"We make livestock our first priority, as I know many are helping people," Ward wrote on Facebook.
Brittany Levine Beckman was Mashable's managing editor. She enjoys crafting feature ideas, learning new things, and party parrots. Before working at Mashable, she covered community news at the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register. That's how she met a zonkey and the tallest man in the world.
