CYPRESS, Texas--The mayday call went out near midnight to all members of the Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department organizing rescue operations in the outskirts of Houston. There was a new emergency: Four of their own in peril.
On a suburban street transformed into a rushing waterway by Tropical Storm Harvey, a firefighter heading out to save people stranded by the storm fell into floodwaters as he was boarding a boat. The firefighters turned all their attention to rescuing their fellow rescuer.
Matt Perkins, a 21-year veteran of the fire department of Cy-Fair, short for Cypress-Fairbanks, listened intently to the progress from the mini-command post set up in his truck at a gas station. "Those are my guys out there. I want to make sure they are OK," he said as he listened to his radio.
"Command Boat 21, do you need a helicopter at your location?" a radio dispatcher said.
A garbled response. "We can't understand your response," the dispatcher responded. "Your mic is wet."
Hearing no response, the call became more urgent: "Repeat. Do you need a helicopter at your location?"
Finally the radio crackled back to life: "We are extracted. The boat is tied to a tree. We are walking out with the military."
The three on board were able to pull the fourth out of the water, but the fast current pinned the boat to a tree and left them stranded. It was just the first hair-raising moment in a long night of rescues by firefighters, police and the National Guard as rains from the devastating storm continued to hammer Houston and the surrounding area. More than 3,000 people had been rescued from their homes by late Monday and more rain was forecast for Tuesday.
National Guard teams with Humvees and high-water vehicles coordinated with local emergency officials to respond to calls from people trapped in their homes.
