LUMBERTON, Texas — Harrowing video captured good Samaritans rushing to rescue a teen after her car was inundated by high flood waters on Park Road North in Lumberton.
Beaumont Police Officer Haley Morrow shared the video of her daughter, Emily, being rescued on Facebook with an important PSA to Southeast Texas drivers.
"I’m sharing this story because, despite knowing the phrase “Turn around, don’t drown,” and us having had those conversations, she still felt it was safe since she could “see the lines on the road” when she started down it, not realizing it got deeper and the water was continuing to rise. Let this be a warning—any amount of water over the road can be dangerous. Please do not drive through it," said Morrow in the post.
Morrow says that when she first got the call from Emily Saturday, her heart stopped. She says she was spending the day in Beaumont with her other daughter for her birthday when Emily called her.
"I got one of those phone calls that every parent fears, where your kid is on the other end of the line hysterical. She said water was coming into the car, and her and her friend were in the car. She was hysterical saying I'm sorry mom I'm sorry'", said Haley Morrow.
However, it obviously wasn't the car Morrow was worried about.
"Really don't care about the car, all we care about is her safety of course," said Haley Morrow.
19-year-old Emily says that she and her friend were on their way to a friends house when they came to a section of the road going over Village Creek, covered in water.
"Me and my friend were like 'do we turn around or do we keep going?' But we were like, we can see the orange line, surely it's fine," said Emily Morrow.
However, as she was about to find out, looks can be deceiving.
"We were going slow then all of the car just stops. I feel my car being pushed away, and the guardrail is right there. All I could think about is 'oh my god we're about to go off," said Emily Morrow.
Emily says she started doing everything she could to stop the cars progress, but the unrelenting current continued to force it closer to the edge. The high waters forcing the door closed, trapping the girls.
In a last ditch effort the two friends did the only thing they could think of, roll down the window and call for help.
"We scream for help and thankfully there was people out there, and as soon as they saw us they literally ran as fast as they could to us and comforted me.
In the video the good Samaritan can be seen hoisting a crying Emily out of the car and consoling her.
"I was all over the place, we were just scared I mean we've never been in that situation, but they were just telling me what to do, telling me it's just a car and your parents are glad it's not you," said Emily Morrow.
Haley Morrow made sure that the good Samaritans knew just how much she appreciated them in her post.
"Thank you to the incredible neighbors nearby who jumped into action. I don’t know all their names, but one of these heroes, Scott, risked his own safety to help pull the girls out before the car was swept into the creek," said Haley Morrow.
After she got to Emily and made sure she was safe, Morrow saw an opportunity for this to be a good learning experience, not just for her daughter, but everyone.
"I just wanted to show a small snippet, because with the social media platform any chance that I can make a PSA out of anything that happens in public safety I do, but today it was a little bit more surreal because it was a situation that involved my own kid," said Haley Morrow, "But if it sparks a conversation with parents and teen drivers, or if it just reminds all of us who drive the dangers of even a small amount of water on the roadway. It's a reminder that it can happen to anyone."
Now with the scary situation behind her, Emily is able to find humor in the irony of her mom making a 'turn around don't drown' post on Facebook that very morning.
"It's such a ego hit when both your parents are in law enforcement, and they make a Facebook post the morning that it happened," said a laughing Emily.
Overall though, Emily is just grateful for the people that saved her and her friend.
"I'm just so thankful for the people that were there, they didn't have to do that. They didn't have to step up and walk through this dirty water to save some stupid girls who drove through a flooded bridge, but they did and honestly probably saved our lives," said Emily Morrow.