Firefighter saving Hurricane Harvey flood victims rescues his own parents
After Hurricane Harvey struck Houston, firefighter Michael Gibson was more than a first responder. He was also a worried son.
Gibson is part of a first responder team that has been out rescuing people in the Houston suburb of Pearland, Texas. He came back to his old neighborhood to help and had been working for the past four days when he got the call that his own family needed to be rescued.
« My parents called and said they were under water, » Gibson told ABC News’ Eva Pilgrim. « I had to get my parents. »
As the team made their way to Gibson’s parents’ home, they navigated their boat over a graveyard of submerged cars in the street. In some spots, only the car roof was visible.
When Gibson made it to their home, he got out and guided the back of the boat up to the front door. The floodwater inside the house was past his knees.
« They were … saying, ‘We’ve never had water in our house in the 36 years we’ve been in this neighborhood, ‘ » Gibson said.
Gibson and the other first responders with him helped get his parents and two other family members on to their boat. They then took a ride to another part of town where Gibson had parked his car so his family could drive to a shelter.
Once he got them to safety, Gibson went back out on the boat with the team to recuse more people.
« Today is different, » Gibson said. « I had to get my family out… then my friends who I grew up with, they called and I had to go get their parents. »
He added, « I’ve never seen anything like this. This is epic, I’ve never seen this much water in my life. »
