To Michael Cornelius, it was a “no brainer.”
The 34-year-old resident of Spring Lake, N.C., helped prevent a blind woman from drowning in Florence floodwaters on Monday. The dramatic rescue was caught on drone video by a North Carolina photojournalist.
Cornelius was in his car with his wife and four kids looking for a way out of town — he wanted to check on family members elsewhere.
“My wife rolled down the window and said, ‘Wow, look at that water,'” he recalled in an interview with The Associated Press.
There were about 20 people on the edge of the water, and a woman appeared to be stuck near a guardrail. A man with her was in distress as well.
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“The next thing you know, we started hearing them say ‘Help! Help! Help!'” Cornelius said.
Cornelius and two other men went into the water. The water went chest deep on Cornelius, who is 6-foot-2.
After one of the other men wrapped a tire strap around the woman, Cornelius carried her on his back out of the water. The other good Samaritans were able to get the woman’s male companion to safety.
“I thought I was gone,” Kathy Griffin told KARE. “Because I can’t swim and I’m blind.”
“To be honest, the first thing I was thinking, this is a no brainer,” Cornelius said. “Gotta rescue these people. But halfway, the water started getting to my waist. I thought, they probably got gators and snakes here. I’m from Louisiana. Am I gonna have to wrestle a gator today?”
It was KARE crew members that called 911 when they saw the couple struggling, the TV station said.
Mike Morris, the man who was rescued, told KARE that they had been trying to get back to his house.
“I didn’t think it was bad enough that we wouldn’t be able to cross,” he told the station.
Loved ones watched from the car as Cornelius made the dramatic rescue.
“You did good, Daddy,” his daughter said from the backseat.
With News Wire Services