This is the dramatic moment a stranded child is saved from being washed away during Hurricane Harvey.
As Heidi Hall returned from a run in Lake Woodlands just 39 miles north of Houston, Texas, USA, on August 27 around 5pm she spotted two teenagers trying to rescue an upturned kayak.
Clinging on to a buoy line submerged, the boy barely manages to keep his head above the rising surface while a team of rescuers try to pull him to safety.
Clinging on to a buoy line submerged, the boy barely manages to keep his head above the rising surface while a team of rescuers try to pull him to safety
After more than one minute of the footage, finally the child is pulled towards dry land and out of the rapids before being covered in a blanket to cheers from onlookers.
Heidi said: ‘I couldn’t believe these two kids went after the kayak.
‘The current was obviously really strong but they swam out anyway.
‘One of them managed to get to the shore but this kid was stuck for about 20 minutes just holding on to the buoy line.
‘All of the major rescue teams are downtown so this group didn’t have time to wait for a boat to appear.
‘He could have lost his life just for the sake of a kayak.’
Hurricane Harvey has dumped over 30 inches of rain throughout parts of southeast Texas since it made landfall Friday evening.
The rescue team try to pull the boy to safety using a buoy line
After more than one minute of the footage, finally the child is pulled towards dry land and out of the rapids before being covered in a blanket to cheers from onlookers
The National Hurricane Center said the center of the storm is expected to drift offshore through Tuesday before going in a ‘slow northeastward motion’, even bringing heavy rains to Louisiana.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards warned Monday that the worst is on its way to his state.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said Monday that 3,052 people have been rescued by police since the storm flooded the city, adding that 1,000 have been rescued in the last eight hours alone, the Associated Press reported.
At the same time, the Coast Guard has been receiving more than 1,000 calls an hour, US Coast Guard Lt Mike Hart said Monday.
‘Today alone, the Coast Guard has rescued over 3,000 people,’ he said. ‘That includes both air rescues and rescues using boats.’
Evacuees are helped to dry land after their homes were inundated with flooding from Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas
Evacuees are helped to dry land after their homes were inundated with flooding from Hurricane Harvey in Houston. Harvey, which made landfall north of Corpus Christi late Friday evening, is expected to dump upwards to 40 inches of rain in Texas over the next couple of days
Sam Speights removes some possessions from his home in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in Rockport, Texas