Man Rescued from Flooded House Says 'It's Only by God's Grace I'm Alive'
One man is praising God after he and his son were rescued from a flood that struck Clarendon in Jamaica.
Sixty-seven-year-old Henry Blair was in his Palmetto Pen home when floods ravaged through different areas in Clarendon, the Jamaica Observer reported. He, along with his wife and two children, traveled from Canada for his father's burial on April 29, but were unprepared for the extreme weather conditions.
"I have never got this experience from the day I was born. It's the first I've lived it. I've seen it on TV, but never knew it would happen to me," the teary-eyed father told the news outlet.
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Dwayne Blair, Henry's 42-year-old son, said his father told him to climb up to the ceiling as the waters flooded in. He said it was a good thing his father told him that, because the house was filled with water in less than a minute.
"It's a good thing I wasn't by myself," Dwayne said.
Nobody knew that Henry and Dwayne were both inside the house when the tragedy happened. Thankfully, Dwayne made contact with relatives through his cell phone, and asked for help, the Jamaica Gleaner reported. Soon, two divers came to the rescue.
The two divers, Owen Taylor and Junior George Wilson, said a housekeeper named Glendon Barnes informed them of the Blairs' situation inside the flooded house while they were rescuing about 40 people from the Palmetto Seventh-day Adventist Church nearby.
"We were inside church and it was raining," Taylor told the Gleaner. "Then [we saw] a 40-foot metal container came and stop over the drain, so the water wasn't running out fast enough, so it started to rise. Immediately, we tried to relocate the persons out of the church."
"While on the roof of the church, someone told me two people in the house next door, and he gave me the key," he added.
Taylor said he and Wilson didn't think twice about jumping in to rescue the father and son who were trapped in the flooded house. They found Henry and Dwayne near the ceiling, and gave them instructions on how to come out safely.
Nearby residents said the water rose to eight feet deep. Wilson, however, said that was when the water started to subside – and estimated the maximum depth of the flood to be at about 18 feet deep. At least 5,000 people were affected by the floods brought about by the heavy rains, the Gleaner noted.
The Blairs, along with nearby residents, openly praised the two divers who worked hard to ensure the safety of the people in the vicinity. Henry Blair thanked God for his rescue.
"It only took seconds before the water came in and it's only by the grace of God that I'm alive today," Henry said.
