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| Scottsboro native Jeremy Campbell experiences the dangers of Hurricane Harvey as he floats the flooded streets on a boat rescue mission. |
By Danielle Wallingsford Kirkland
As catastrophic waters brought on by Hurricane Harvey flooded the streets of Southeast Texas, Scottsboro native Jeremy Campbell got up close and personal with both the danger and the human compassion that comes along with such an historic weather event.
Campbell, who now resides in Atlanta where he is a journalist for 11Alive news, was dispatched to Houston to help 11Alive’s sister station, KHOU-TV cover Harvey.
“When a big story impacts a city, our parent company, TEGNA, sends crews from other areas to help,” Campbell said. “That was my job. However, this time it was different. The day I flew to Texas, KHOU flooded and the entire TV station had to be evacuated.”
For Campbell, this was a sign of how horrific the flooding would be.
His job was to find a story, but flood-covered roads and barricades made getting to the flood zone in Houston difficult.
“I was worried we would be cut off from any news so far from the epicenter,” Campbell said. “But this storm was so widespread, and things were just beginning to worsen.”
When Campbell, along with his executive producer Erin Gutierrez, saw a green pontoon boat being hauled down the highway, they pursued it.
“I figured it was on the way to a rescue, so we followed it,” Campbell said.
Soon, the truck hauling the boat pulled to the side of the road as the rain continued to pour down.
“Turns out they had a flat,” Campbell said. “This is where I first met Charlie (Diggs) and Morgan (Weiderhold). We offered to help. They didn’t need it. We asked to come along. They said, ‘Sure.’”
Campbell said he never dreamed that this chance encounter with a man and a pontoon boat would lead to the dramatic rescue that followed.
Over the course of the next two hours, Diggs, an event promoter, and Weiderhold, a former Houston Texans cheerleader, would rescue 27 people, 8 dogs and three cats on a pontoon boat built to hold only 12. Campbell went along for the ride, filming along the way.
“Riding on a rescue boat down a street that looked a lot more like a river felt, in a word, eerie,” Campbell said. “The houses were covered in three or four feet of water. Some people had been trapped upstairs waiting as the water inched up the sides of their living room couches and kitchen tables. As we cut through the mucky brown flood water I heard air horns signaling for help. I’ll never forget seeing a family of three staring out a bay window waving while the water wake splashed on the glass of their home.”
Campbell said that as each person, and pet, climbed aboard the boat he could see relief and gratitude in their faces.
“Everyone was emotional, but cheerful,” Campbell said. “Cats and dogs literally got along on the boat.”
But cheer soon turned to fear, as things began to get rough.
“The flood water flowed so rapidly it took on a current that drifted the boat toward power lines and submerged mailboxes,” Campbell said. “They might as well have been land mines as the stress took its toll on the passengers.”
The families, Campbell explained, thought they had survived the worst part of the Harvey experience before they boarded Diggs’ boat.
“Now, the boat intended to be their salvation started taking on water. It was horrific in the moment,” Campbell said. “Relief after the rescue turned to fear.”
Luckily, Diggs knew what he was doing and stayed calm as water coming onto the boat caused some passengers to panic.
“At one point we thought the boat may be so overloaded that some passengers would have to jump out to keep it afloat,” Campbell said. “Being the observer with a camera, I was ready to go first. What right did I have to stay on board when their homes were flooded?”
As the rescue went along, Campbell said he was nervous and fearful that he had gotten in over his head. He kept calm though. Logically he knew the water level was only about four feet. Still, the dangerous situation made it seem much deeper.
“I could stand in that and keep my camera out of it at least for a short while,” Campbell said. “But on board it didn’t feel that way. This was a street overtaken with rushing water and at the time it felt as mighty as the Tennessee River rushing down John T. Reid Parkway after a summer storm.”
Though the rescue took two hours, to Campbell it felt like only ten minutes.
“We stopped in culs-de-sac and neighbors stomped down flooded driveways waist deep in water with cats in carriers and dogs in their arms. One father cried as he told the boat driver ‘Thank you. Thank you.’ A young girl joked with her mom that she would rather be in school that day after all. Some neighbors met for the first time, promising to swap numbers when their phones dried out,” Campbell said. “It was the best of humanity at the worst moment. Relief. And when they all made it to land they all had places to go for the night.”
Campbell posted a video of the rescue online and it has been viewed more than 10 million times.
“That speaks to the heroic efforts of Charlie and Morgan,” Campbell said.
When everyone was safely on drier land, Campbell headed to the largest shelter in Houston where he stayed for 24 hours.
“Our 24 hours in the shelter revealed humanity at its best,” Campbell said. “Volunteers came in droves, some as soon as they were able to leave their own flooded neighborhoods. They came to hand out food, walk dogs, give free haircuts, haul trash —anything. There was an order of politeness.”
The shelter wasn’t the most pleasant place to stay, Campbell said, but at least it was safe and dry.
“Life was on pause for the 10,000 plus waiting to find out how bad the storm was on their home, or if they even had a home to return to,” he said.
Campbell said he wonders where those who left an imprint on him ended up.
“Particularly, I wonder what happened to a young man who lost his grandmother months before and came to the shelter as his last resort when the water rose on his 27th birthday.”
Over Campbell’s decade long career as a reporter he has covered the best of times and the worst of times and has found that there are common themes in each.
“Sometimes the worst things that happen to us lead us to the best,” he said. “It just takes time to see the silver lining.”
One thing he has learned for sure is that gratitude rises from loss.
“I saw that sense of gratitude across Northeast Alabama covering the tornado outbreak of 2011. I saw it last week in Houston. When we almost lose it all, there’s a stronger sense of appreciation for what we have left — the people we love who we hold on to as the floodwaters rise and recede. That’s what matters. And no matter the flood, the water always recedes and the sun shines again. Storms pass.”
To watch Campbell's footage of the pontoon boat rescue, search “Charlie’s Ark” on Youtube.
