A CNN reporter and camera crew preparing to issue a morning report from Beaumont, Texas, dropped their microphones and cameras on live television to rescue a man who accidentally drove his truck into a flooded ravine on Wednesday, Mashable reports.
“We’ve just literally rescued this guy,” correspondent Drew Griffin said, after he and his crew pulled Jerry Sumrall to safety. “There was no time to call 911, he was floating down this ravine, that’s his truck right behind me.”
Heavy rainfall has made it impossible to distinguish between what is a road, a creek or a ravine, Griffin reported.
“I want to thank these guys for saving my life,” Sumrall said after he was rescued, emotion creeping into his voice.
Not every encounter between CNN and Hurricane Harvey survivors has been as positive. On Tuesday, a survivor who waited days with her children to be rescued from Houston’s rising waters lashed out at CNN correspondent Rosa Flores, accusing the network of exploiting flood victims.
“You all are sitting here trying to interview people at their worst times. That’s not the smartest thing to do. People are really breaking down and you’re sitting here with cameras and microphones trying to ask us what the f—k is wrong with us.
“And you really trying to understand, with the microphone still in my face, when he’s shivering cold, and my kids wet and you still putting the microphone in my face.”
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