WEBB, Ala (WDHN) — A tale of heroism has come out of the damaging floods that swept through Houston County Monday morning.
On Monday morning, Chief Meteorologist Matthew Wine was on his way to WDHN when he came across a flooded portion of Highway 52 between Dothan and Webb.
After stopping to take a video of the flooded highway, Matthew noticed multiple vehicles trying to drive through the rising water, and one lost control and began to float away.
Seeing the car begin to float closer and closer to the ditch on the road’s left shoulder, Matthew stopped recording and jumped into action.
Once Matthew got to the vehicle, the woman rolled down her window and exclaimed, “I’m scared!” Matthew reassured her that he would get her through the harrowing situation.
He pushed the woman’s car about 25 yards through water that was roughly two and a half feet deep. After getting the car out of the water, another man, Troy McCary, helped Matthew push it to safety at a gas station.
“I knew that was a life-threatening situation for the person in that car. I jumped in and just started running through the water as fast as possible. Because the water was so deep, running turned into wading, and I was worried I might not make it to her in time,” Matthew said.
After saving the woman from the frightening and potentially deadly situation, Troy McCary and his wife drove Matthew to WDHN to assist with the severe weather coverage.
Soaked from head to toe, Matthew got on Facebook Live and reminded viewers to “turn around, don’t drown,” a saying he and meteorologist Jordan Ambrose continued reiterating the entire morning.
Matthew later returned to the scene, finding the woman and her husband at the gas station, who said they were thankful she was alive.
A large portion of Columbia Highway was closed to traffic for over seven hours while crews waited for the waters to subside.
