Texas is a huge state, so when Hurricane Harvey was making its way towards Houston, the people of San Antonio were watching with anticipation to see what would happen to their fellow Texans but didn’t feel like there was much they could do being so far away. Three San Antonio brothers had trouble accepting that though and wanted to think outside the box to find a way to help.
The three asked their cousin, who is a police officer in Houston, about the situation, and he told them even though they have boats, they are in need of high water trucks. That is all the brothers needed to hear. They hit the Craigslist ads, and by the time they were done, they had spent 13 grand on a 5-ton truck that was nicknamed “The Punisher.” The truck was airbrushed with skulls, weighed 21,550 pounds, and could withstand waist high water. The brothers were ready to help.
By Tuesday they were down in Houston taking part first hand in water rescues. They worked at citizen helpers for the local law enforcement and went to a neighborhood called Bear Creek, where there was five-foot standing water, and where those still there were stranded in second stories, and running out of food. The three rescued not only their two legged counterparts, but four legged, and even winged friends, including pit bulls, parakeets, and hedgehogs.
By Thursday the brothers had gone to a neighborhood further south, still inundated with water. They rescued dozens of people on their truck, from a female bodybuilder who had been doing her best to stay on her strict diet, to a family of six with a mother begging for supplies for her children. They also saved a man making his way through the water back to his apartment to get the necessary papers to file insurance claims, so that he will be able to rebuild his life for himself and his family after the waters recede.
One of the men catching a ride with brothers noted how he himself would be getting a big truck after this, so he would never be caught unprepared like this again. The last stop the brothers went on was in response to a 911 call, and by the time they got there, someone else was already rescuing the woman. The brothers noted how involved so many everyday citizens were with helping, with Brad Morris saying, “[People] couldn’t sit around and just watch people suffer. It’s that Texas pride, I guess.”
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Source: PBS
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