A cameraman was rolling when a driver became completely submerged in flood waters in Texas, resulting in a harrowing rescue that was broadcast on live TV.
Emergency crews had yet to block off a submerged road in Houston Monday morning when two cars drove head-on into the water beneath an overpass, KTRK reported.
Fortunately, local reporters were already there and able to direct one perplexed man to safety. The man otherwise appeared hesitant about leaving his sinking car.
"I don't know what to do!" the driver called over to KTRK reporter Steve Campion while clinging to his floundering vehicle.
"Leave the car, swim!" he called back.
"Get in the car?" the driver asked.
"Leave the car, swim!"
With that, the suited man plunged into the rising water around him, but appeared to struggle as he swam toward reporters.
Campion responded by going waist-deep in the water to meet him, microphone in hand.
"I didn't think the water was that deep. My car is under," the shocked driver said as they stumbled toward higher ground.
"I'm just glad you're OK," Campion told him.
"Yeah, I am too."
Campion said this was the second vehicle to completely submerge beneath the underpass that morning. A second, unedited video showed heavy bubbles rising out of another area of the road where only an antenna was exposed.
Speaking later to Campion on dry land, the soggy driver said he thought it was just a puddle in the road ahead. Once he realized the severity of the depths, he said he didn't know what to do.
"I thought, how am I going to get out of here, can I open the door? So I opened the door and you were kind enough to tell me to swim and that's what I did," he said.
The nonprofit group Firefighters Helping Firefighters praised Campion for his help shortly after, tweeting to him: "Want a job with [Houston Fire Department]? Great job!"
