'A grateful family' thanks fire department for rescue
By Steve Herring
Published in News on November 27, 2016 12:09 AM
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Hurricane Matthew wiped out bridges and washed away cars during the height of the storm. Scores of water rescues were conducted to save stranded motorists struggling against flash floods.
GRANTHAM -- It is a simple message.
Yet for Grantham firefighters, the sentiment is far more satisfying than the large box of Omaha steaks the note arrived with.
"From a grateful family. The Mack family thanks you for your assistance in our son's moment of need. This is a small token of our appreciation -- Phillip Mack and family," the message reads.
On the night of Oct. 10, as Hurricane Matthew raged, Phillip Mack was driving along Old Grantham School Road.when high water swept his vehicle off the road.
Mack was left clinging for his life in a tree.
Grantham Fire Chief Richard Proctor said a woman who lives nearby happened to walk outside just to see what the storm was doing. The rising waters had surrounded her house, but did not get inside, Proctor said.
At first, she thought the noise she heard was cat.
She and her daughter-in-law came back outside and listened carefully, Proctor said.
They agreed. It was no cat. Someone was hollering for help, he said.
It was around 9 p.m., well after nightfall.
"Her son is on the fire department," Proctor said. "She called her son and said, 'You all need to come down here. I am pretty sure there is somebody in the darkness down there at the bridge hollering for help.'"
By 9:30 Grantham firefighters and rescue personnel reached Mack.
Mack told his rescuers he had gone into the water about 7 p.m.
"His car got washed away on Grantham School Road," Proctor said. "He was approximately 45 feet off road in the swamp clinging to a tree."
Firefighters used boats and ropes to reach Mack, who was by then hypothermic.
"He was not going to last much longer," Proctor said. "Firefighters and EMS 3 treated him at the rescue building all night long because conditions did not allow for him to be safely transported. We had to treat him for hypothermia all night long in the ambulance because you couldn't fly a helicopter."
Ambulances couldn't come in and out of Goldsboro, Mount Olive or anywhere at that point in time.
"So we brought him back eventually to the rescue building and basically made a MASH unit at the rescue building and treated him for hypothermia."
Overall, Grantham firefighters performed seven life and death water rescues and approximately 50 water evacuations.
The fire station served as a shelter for several nights.
"We had a couple from St. Petersburg, Florida," Proctor said. "She had a sister in Craven County. They decided they were going to take a week off from work -- a young couple, they both work -- and they were going to leave their home and come up to North Carolina because, you know, the storm appeared to be going right there at Florida.
The couple had gotten as far as U.S 13 when the storm hit. Forced to stop on 13, their car got washed out, Proctor said.
"They spent the night at a house on Hood Drive (an area that experienced severe flooding). Then we had to boat them out and got them down to the fire station before the sister from Havelock could come and get them."
The irony sticks with Proctor.
"They are leaving Florida to outrun the storm and come to North Carolina and get their car flooded out," he said.
He added that, after the couple were rescued they called their neighbors in Florida who told them the power blinked a couple of times and that about an inch and a half of rain had fallen.
In another instance, a family of five from New Hampshire was stranded on U.S. 13 and also came to the fire station, Proctor said.
The family had been on its way to Disney World. Two women from Maryland also sought shelter at the fire station, he said.
"But it just wasn't us (providing shelter)," he said. "There were homes up and down (U.S.) 13 ... Neighbors took complete strangers off the street and put them in their homes.
A house on Hood Drive that had 17 people in it overnight, the night of the storm, and 10 of those people came off of Highway 13, he said.
"I mean black, white, male, female, young, old ---- because they did not have anywhere else to go. You couldn't get to them safely at a certain point because of high water, high winds, the power being out and it being dark."
Several homes were severely damaged or destroyed and the road damage was the worst that Proctor has ever seen.
"One-third of Wayne County was directly affected by water," he said. "I hope and pray that we don't ever see that again.
The difference with Matthew is that the storm was worse than what people were anticipating No. 1, Proctor said.
"No 2, when the flooding started taking place it took place at dark and just caught a lot of people off guard from that standpoint."
With Hurricane Fran and Floyd there were deaths in Grantham.
"We didn't have any deaths this time by the grace of God, but we did have two (deaths) in Wayne County. That's two too many."