Incredible moment reporter helps rescue man caught in Harvey floods, live on TV
The saying "not all superheroes wear capes" feels trite at the best of times. But in this case, it's rather appropriate.
A local TV reporter covering the flooding in Houston, Texas (as a result of Hurricane Harvey) came to the aid of a truck driver who was stranded in 10 feet of water.
Reporter Brandi Smith and camera operator Mario Sandoval of KHOU 11 -- a CBS-affiliated television station -- were literally keeping the station's coverage going as their studios had been evacuated earlier.
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Smith was on air when she spotted a truck surrounded by water. The driver, whose name was reported as Robert, was stranded inside as water seeped into his vehicle.
What happened next was human survival mode in action, live on TV:
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Smith noticed a rescue team driving by, flagged them down and brought them to the stranded driver, all the while reporting on events as they transpired. At one point she stopped to clean the lens of her photographer's camera.
As the rescue team took their boat towards the trapped driver and hauled him to safety, Smith became emotional.
“Incredible kudos to these two sheriff’s deputies who are risking their lives in this deep water. I’m sure he’s very wet, very cold, very frightened." she said.
“I finally feel like I can breathe," she continued.
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“I just thank God that you guys were right here to get me and put me back on land safely,” Robert said in a short interview, minutes after the rescue.
The interview ended with Smith embracing the man. “This is going to sound weird but can I hug you? I so glad you're ok,” she said.
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So there you have it. Proof that not all heroes wear capes, they also wear rain jackets and carry cameras and microphones.
Anne-Marie Tomchak is the UK Editor of Mashable, where she heads up the company's operations from London. She has spent over a decade reporting and presenting for national and international broadcasters including the BBC, RTE, Deutsche Welle, American Public Media and NPR. In 2013, Anne-Marie launched the social media investigative unit BBC Trending. During her time at the corporation, she also developed the mobile video offering on the BBC News app and fronted live social broadcasts. Anne-Marie is a leading digital media voice contextualizing the role of technology in the modern world. She has made a number of feature length TV documentaries for Ireland's national broadcaster RTE in her capacity as UK Editor for Mashable, including ‘Cloud Control: Who Owns Your Data?’ (Nov 2016) about big data and digital fingerprints and “Will A Robot Steal My Job” (Nov 2017) about the impact of AI and automation on the workforce. The Irish Times listed her as '30 Irish Women You Need to Know' for International Women's Day and she is one of Silicon Republic's '30 Incredible Irish people leading a European invasion'.
