A school bus driver and a bus monitor in Dallas are being hailed as heroes after they got creative in order to save two kids from dangerous flooding that has ravaged the southern part of the country this week.
On Monday, two children were clinging to trees, so driver Simone Edmond and bus monitor Tekendria Valentine tied seatbelts together to reel in the kids.
Edmond and Valentine had finished their route when dispatch contacted them to pick up another group of kids in need of a ride, the Dallas Independent School District said in a release. The pair arrived, only to find the students had gone home, prompting Edmond and Valentine to return to the bus lot. Roads were flooded, so they elected to take a different route when Valentine spotted a child struggling in the water and another shouting for help.
“With my job as a special needs bus monitor, I have to stay vigilant and alert, so I was just doing my part,” said Valentine.
Edmond moved the bus, while the children's father dove in to make sure his kids remained above the water, according to the release.
Edmond and Valentine called the fire department, who couldn’t get through due to all of the rain and flooding, the release said. With no assistance coming, the duo took extra seatbelts from the bus and tied them together to create a makeshift rope used to save the kids and their father. Neighbors also appeared to make a human chain in order to propel the rope far enough to reach the kids and man and bring them to safety.
“I don’t really consider myself a hero,” Edmond said. “I just feel like I was doing what I needed to do at the time, and if I had to, I would do it all over again.”
The incident took between 30 and 45 minutes and everyone was safe afterward, according to the release. The rescue effort was unorthodox and certainly not part of traditional procedure, either.
“We have a bus evacuation training and certain protocols and processes in place for emergencies, but nothing to the magnitude that could’ve prepared them for this,” said Director of Student Transportation Angel Vales.
Flooding has devastated the south this week, with a 60-year-old Uber driver in Mesquite, Texas dying after she got caught in water when she drove home after completing a ride.