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New York Post
Video shows harrowing rescue from deadly Hurricane Beryl as Cat 1 storm batters Houston
By Jennie Taer, Ronny Reyes,
23 days ago
HOUSTON — Hurricane Beryl cashed into Texas as a Category 1 storm on Monday, killing at least two people and triggering rescues from flooding caused by heavy rain and gusts of more than 80 mph.
Dramatic footage near Houston’s Astrodome showed officials working to rescue a man who was trapped after the floodwaters almost completely submerged his entire pickup truck, local KHOU 11 reports .
The man could be seen balancing on the back of the vehicle trying to save himself from the rushing floodwaters — which had become a surging river that overtook the road.
The Houston Fire Department was eventually able to toss the man a life jacket and life ring, and he held on for dear life as the rescue team pulled him to to safety.
“If everybody could see that video, you see how resource intensive those call types are,” Houston Fire Department Chief Samuel Peña said. “We cannot continue to service every call type that same way.”
The rescue was just one of many taking place along Houston and the Texan coast as Beryl rips through the state.
Houston assistant police chief Thomas Hardin said the department has already saved eight people trapped in high waters as of noon on Monday.
Hardin also warned that the department would crack down on anyone trying to take advantage of the emergency situation, which has left more than 1.5 million homes and businesses without power.
“Every single time where we have an event like this where we have power outages, you always have a select few of our population that try to take advantage of the situation,” Hardin said.
“Well let me tell you that we are putting the full weight and force of the Houston Police Department behind helping the citizens of Houston, that includes staffing people and officers that you cannot see at places without power,” he added.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire said that his home was among the many that lost power due to the storm.
“I do not have power, we’re all living this together, we’re all in this together,” the mayor told residents at a news conference.
A total of 1,361 flights were canceled and 1,014 flights were delayed as of 9 a.m. ET, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.
Beryl made landfall around Matagorda , about 80 miles south of Houston, at 3:50 a.m. local time. It’s expected to keep moving inland.
Houston fire chief Peña said emergency services crews are working around the clock to rescue people caught in floods after forecasters warned of storm surges up to 7 feet in the Lone Star State.
“This is a fast-moving storm resulting in street-level flooding, hurricane-force winds and widespread power outages. Stay home and off the streets,” Peña said.
He added: “The majority of our calls are high-water evacuation calls from flooded roadways and downed power lines.”
The fire chief said the department has already seen one death in a house fire early Monday as the hurricane slammed into Texas.
Another man in the Houston suburb of Humble was also killed when a tree fell on a house, trapping him beneath the debris, according to Harris County officials.
Flood warnings remain in effect across a wide stretch of the Texas coast, with officials warning residents to stay off the streets.
Houston-area officials have reported that one of its high-water rescue vehicles patrolling Rosenberg had been hit by a falling tree while returning from a mission.
Videos and images from coastal towns where the hurricane moved past and reached wind speeds of nearly 100 mph show homes and condos completely destroyed by the powerful storm.
With Post wires
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