How a Drone and Social Media Aided in One Man’s Flood Rescue
A man and his dog were saved from a dangerous flood after his brother reached out to a stranger on Twitter.
Chris Williams and his dog were trapped until a neighbor was able to use his drone to get the attention of a nearby FEMA boat.
CUMBERLAND COUNTY, N.C. – A man in North Carolina became trapped on his roof this week after flood water broke down his front door and eventually inundated his house.
Chris Williams is a former member of the Navy and normally takes news of hurricanes in stride. “He typically doesn’t blink. So, he wasn’t really taking these warnings seriously,” Craig Williams, Chris’s brother, told ABC News.
Unfortunately for Chris, his power went out when evacuation orders began to come in. “He had no idea what was going on. He wasn’t getting any information.” Craig explains. “He saw the water go up in his yard, and he just thought ‘no big deal.’”
Chris refused to leave his house because his dog, Lana, did not know how to swim. He also wasn’t able to call for help because 911 and emergency services in the area were down.
Chris began talking to Craig, who was in Texas, on Facebook. Craig then searched Twitter for local news reports and any information on when the flood would subside.
He came across the picture of a neighborhood completely deluged with floodwater and sent it to his brother. “I sent it to him as a joke and was like, ‘Well, at least it’s not as bad as this.’ And he said, ‘That’s my house.’”
Craig then contacted the person who tweeted the image. The man, Quavas Hart, lived a few streets over and had been flying his drone.
Hart was soon able to get the attention of a Federal Emergency Management Agency rescue crew nearby and tell them about Chris and Lana.
“You see a lot of negative things and you hear a lot of awful stuff, but the reality is there are a lot of good people in this world and if you just ask, they will do the right thing,” says Chris Williams. “This is one of those moments when humanity came together.”
Watch drone footage of the rescue:
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About the Author
Steve Karantzoulidis, Web/Senior Editor
Steven A. Karantzoulidis is the Web Editor for Security Sales & Integration. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a degree in Communication and has a background in Film, A/V and Social Media.
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