As Hurricane Francine pounded southeast Louisiana, officials urged residents to look out for one another, and a local emergency room nurse put that advice into practice, using a hammer to save the life of a flooded motorist.
NBC affiliate WDSU in New Orleans broadcast the rescue mission by Myles Crawford live, one of the most dramatic moments from the Category 2 storm that caused widespread power outages and other damage along the Gulf Coast and inland.
“I just had to go out there and do it. I’m a nurse, I have to save lives, you know?” Crawford told the police station as she emerged from the floodwaters.
Crawford dove into the alarming situation after looking outside her home in the Lakeview neighborhood of New Orleans and seeing the winds and rains of Francine roaring through the air. She told The Times-Picayune that she first noticed police officers near a train underpass that frequently floods, then got a text message from her brother saying someone had driven their car into the water under the overpass and was stuck there.
After receiving this information, Crawford approached both police and a WDSU reporter at the scene, saying he had medical supplies and asking for help. As the front of the driver’s truck rapidly began to sink, Crawford ran back to the house, grabbed a hammer, put on a gray hooded rain jacket and returned to his car.
He quickly leaned his weight against the truck bed and used the hammer to smash the driver’s side rear window of the truck. After a few seconds, the driver stuck his head out the window and Crawford grabbed him by his jacket and helped him out of the vehicle.
The driver fell headfirst into the sudden floodwaters, but Crawford pulled him above the surface, at which point Crawford was literally up to his neck in water, but he and the driver were able to grab onto a nearby railing and reach safety while police and firefighters reached the two men and took over from Crawford.
In a statement provided to the Guardian, New Orleans police said that despite police cars, barricades and signs warning passersby of the rising water, the driver veered into traffic and ended up underneath a flooded train overpass.
Paramedics took the driver to a local hospital where he was examined but was not found to be injured, according to a police statement, which highlighted Crawford’s “extraordinary bravery.”
The incident prompted police to issue a reminder of the importance of following traffic laws and the need for people to protect themselves during dangerous weather, but it also led to Crawford being hailed as a hero by those following Francine’s aftermath as footage of his bravery went viral.
Crawford told WDSU that she was used to “high stress on a daily basis” from her experience working as a nurse at the University of New Orleans Medical Center, which frequently treats some of the region’s most severely injured trauma patients.
He told The Times-Picayune that he’s now in a nurse practitioner program focused on mental health, and that breaking the window of a flooded truck seems like a small deal in comparison.
“Honestly, that’s a piece of cake compared to what I do on a daily basis,” Crawford said.
Francine made landfall Wednesday evening about 30 miles (50 kilometers) southwest of Morgan City, Louisiana, causing coastal and inland flooding and leaving hundreds of thousands without power. No deaths or injuries were reported as a result of the storm.