A South Carolina couple and their three sons helped rescue an 87-year-old man and his dog during the rains that flooded the state this weekend.
George Osterhues, 87, was driving in the area earlier that day, on a trip from Canada to Florida, when the weather forced him off the interstate and he got caught in the flood waters after getting lost on local roads.
By the time the Halls spotted his car stuck in the rising waters, the elderly man and his Yorkshire terrier named Tila had already been stuck in the frigid waters for two hours.
The Halls immediately called 911, but decided to stage the rescue themselves since they knew emergency responders would be busy and they worried Mr Osterhues didn’t have much time left before his car was submerged or swept away.
‘I guess adrenaline is an amazing thing. You don’t realize what you’re gonna do until you’re in a situation to have to do something,’ Julie Hall told WCNC.
When he got to Mr Osterhues’ car, Mr Hall first gave the man a life jacket and took the dog before helping the man escape through a window.
But helping the man walk back to solid ground was more difficult than Mr Hall expected, so his wife and three sons came to the rescue to help pull them out.
‘I just knew he wasn’t gonna make it back to the side without somebody helping him,’ Julie Hall said
While Mr Osterhues’ car was totaled, he was able to rent a car for the rest of his journey after staying the night at the Hall house.
In an interview with the Charlotte Observer, Mr Osterhues said of the Halls: ‘They are the best. Wonderful.’
