Views from the storm: Trucker rescued in Harvey flooding as highways become submerged

Updated Sep 16, 2017
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As Hurricane Harvey continues to dump massive amounts of rainfall in southeast Texas, views from the storm are dire, with flooding submerging highways and prompting widescale rescue efforts across affected areas. The storm has prompted some regulatory waivers for truck operators, as well as closed major interstates. See Overdrive‘s coverage of waivers and highway closures at this link.

One story making the rounds on social media and mainstream media outlets is that of a trucker, identified as only Robert in reports from the scene, who was trapped in his truck as floodwaters rose around the vehicle and within his cab, coming dangerously close to drowning him. A local news crew from Houston’s KHOU was there filming, and reporter Brandi Smith was able to flag down local authorities in a rescue boat to help save the trucker’s life.

Below is video of that rescue, along with photos and videos posted to Twitter and Facebook of the historic flooding, trucks caught in the floodwaters, submerged highways and a video of a convoy of relief loads heading to the impacted areas. See the list of truck stop closures reported by major chains in the tweets embedded below.

We spotted this H-E-B disaster relief convoy staged just outside Goliad, TX. NBC DFW #Harvey

Posted by Brian Curtis NBC5 on Sunday, August 27, 2017

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