Houston reporter saves driver from submerged car during flood
Strong storms brought 10 to 20 inches of rain to the Houston area on Monday morning, leaving roads impassable and stranding drivers.
Authorities urged commuters to stay at home, but the message came too late for some who were already on their way when the storm struck.
Reporter Steve Campion was covering the flood when he became part of the story, leaping to the aid of a driver attempting to swim away from his submerged vehicle.
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Campion was live on air for ABC13 and still holding his microphone when a man, whose car became submerged in the flooding, swam away from his car.
Footage shows Campion wading into chest-deep water and pulling the man to safety.
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Prior to the incident, Campion had been tweeting from the scene of the flooding on Studemont and Katy Freeway, which appears to be the same intersection seen in the rescue video.
The heavy rains set records for the Houston area, with more than a month’s worth of rain falling in under 24 hours. The storm system responsible for the flooding also dumped more than 3 feet of snow in Colorado, and spawned tornadoes in the Plains.
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The National Weather Service reported up to 16 inches of rain in the 24 hours through Monday morning.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said city offices will be closed Monday. Classes have been cancelled in Houston's public school system.
Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport also reported hundreds of cancelations on Monday morning.
Flash flood watches have been issued through Tuesday morning for Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, Tyler-Longview and as far east as Texarkana.
Additional information from the Associated Press.
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Megan Specia was Mashable's Assistant Real-Time News Editor and joined the team in September 2014. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism & Mass Communications from the University of New Hampshire after growing up in the Jersey 'burbs. She made her way to New York via a four year stopover in Dublin. Megan previously worked as a journalist and editor at Storyful in both Dublin and New York. Before all of that, though, her claim to fame was as head cake arranger and purveyor of all things sweet at Queen of Tarts cafe in Dublin, where she developed a serious addiction to macarons.
