Gaelon Phillips, 23, waited for around seven to eight hours in his hometown of Port Arthur for a rescue helicopter to show up - before being told they couldn’t take his family because they were so busy.
The artist and music producer, whose Facebook page was filling up with messages from friends and neighbours begging to be rescued, then decided to take matters into his own hands.
Gaelon’s uncle and a friend came round with a boat and together they worked tirelessly all Wednesday to rescue 50 stricken people - including newborn babies, elderly people and the sick - and get them to dry land.
The 23-year-old revealed how many in his town feel like their plight was ignored while the focus was on Houston - around 110 miles away.
People need to know it’s not just Houston that is affected by this we all need help here too - don’t forget us.
“I want people to see what we are going through.”
Gaelon’s home began to flood at around midnight on Tuesday evening and with water rising fast he began calling all the emergency numbers he could - with no response.
Eventually he climbed on to his roof and managed flag a helicopter down at around 8am on Wednesday.
“The water was rising fast otherwise we wouldn’t have been on the roof,” he said.
“We did not know it was going to be that bad - our house got completely trashed.
“The helicopter let down a member of the coastguard on to our roof.
“I had got my mom out on the roof from the attic because I was going to tell her to go with them first.
“But the coastguard notified us that he was actually looking for one of our neighbours who had a brain aneurysm so they were obviously the priority but he said he would come back.
“I stayed on the roof to make sure they wouldn’t forget about us but by that time my uncle came around with a boat so I came down to go and rescue all the other people that needed help.
“I left my parents behind - thinking that they would be rescued by the helicopter - but they never were. So a few hours later I had to go back and rescue my own parents.”
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4359655/hurricane-harvey-texas-port-arthur-latest-gaelon-phillips/
The artist and music producer, whose Facebook page was filling up with messages from friends and neighbours begging to be rescued, then decided to take matters into his own hands.
Gaelon’s uncle and a friend came round with a boat and together they worked tirelessly all Wednesday to rescue 50 stricken people - including newborn babies, elderly people and the sick - and get them to dry land.
The 23-year-old revealed how many in his town feel like their plight was ignored while the focus was on Houston - around 110 miles away.
People need to know it’s not just Houston that is affected by this we all need help here too - don’t forget us.
“I want people to see what we are going through.”
Gaelon’s home began to flood at around midnight on Tuesday evening and with water rising fast he began calling all the emergency numbers he could - with no response.
Eventually he climbed on to his roof and managed flag a helicopter down at around 8am on Wednesday.
“The water was rising fast otherwise we wouldn’t have been on the roof,” he said.
“We did not know it was going to be that bad - our house got completely trashed.
“The helicopter let down a member of the coastguard on to our roof.
“I had got my mom out on the roof from the attic because I was going to tell her to go with them first.
“But the coastguard notified us that he was actually looking for one of our neighbours who had a brain aneurysm so they were obviously the priority but he said he would come back.
“I stayed on the roof to make sure they wouldn’t forget about us but by that time my uncle came around with a boat so I came down to go and rescue all the other people that needed help.
“I left my parents behind - thinking that they would be rescued by the helicopter - but they never were. So a few hours later I had to go back and rescue my own parents.”
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4359655/hurricane-harvey-texas-port-arthur-latest-gaelon-phillips/
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