Dramatic video shows Texas couple breaking windshield to save man whose truck was being swallowed in flooded ditch

A Houston-area couple risked their lives to save another person from rough waters earlier this week. After seeing a bright red truck almost completely submerged in water in a flooded ditch and the driver apparently using his boots to try to free himself, the couple grabbed a hammer to save his life.

Robert Chance was driving with his girlfriend, Renee Young, and Young’s daughter on Tuesday when they went the wrong way in Spring, Texas, they said. CBS affiliate KHOU. This wrong move was fortunate as it led them to the truck being swept away by turbulent waters after a severe storm broke out in the area.

According to the National Weather Service’s Houston station, Tuesday saw a “line of strong to severe thunderstorms” across southeast Texas. At 4:30 p.m. local time, the storms brought winds exceeding 70 miles per hour and hail the size of golf balls across the region, causing an estimated 300,000 people to lose power and down trees.

“Rainfall rates in the strongest storms were 2 to 3” per hour, which led to street flooding, especially along secondary roads and underpasses,” the NWS warned in the report. Update Tuesday afternoon. “This water may take a while to drain, so please DO NOT drive on flooded roads and DO NOT drive around barricades.”

Heavy rain caused the truck to accidentally end up in a heavily flooded drainage ditch. When the couple spotted the truck, the water was so high that it had overtaken its bed and was beginning to rise completely above the truck’s front hood and driver’s window – with a man still inside.

Young told the outlet that was when Chance became “primitive.”

“The first thing he said he wanted to do was check if anyone was there. He was ready to jump off the cliff. He’s not thinking, he’s just going,” she said.

“You saw his boots — at least that’s what it looked like to me — his boots hitting the windshield,” Chance told KHOU. “…When I saw him there, I immediately went to my toolbox.”

As Young filmed from his vehicle and asked, “How do you get him out of there?” Chance can be seen running to grab a hammer and running back to the truck. Young then hands the recording device to his daughter as she rushes to help.

The couple can be seen and heard apparently shouting at passersby that there was someone trapped in the submerged vehicle as Chance begins to smash the windshield and Young yells at the driver to cover his eyes. Immediately afterwards, Young yells at her daughter to call 9-1-1 and the video cuts out.

Chance told KHOU Wednesday night that he ended up breaking the rear passenger window and pulled the driver out of the truck, helping him out of the ditch with a ladder that another individual brought to the scene.

“He was already starting to come out, so I grabbed him by the shirt and just made sure he didn’t fall into the water,” Chance said. “…I just kept a really tight grip on him and kept him steady.”

“We were in the right place at the right time,” Young said. “He did what his body told him he should do and that man had to go home to his family.”

Chance kept in touch with the driver and said he was fine. A local Fox affiliate identified the driver as Jeff Jones, who told the station that all he could think about was “my family, my wife… what I’m leaving behind in this world.” Jones said a road railing was submerged by floodwaters, causing the crash and his car to plunge onto a pedestrian bridge before becoming stuck in the drainage ditch.

“I see someone in need, especially in this dire need, I just jump into action and go right ahead,” Chance said. “If it happened again today, without a doubt, I would spring into action and do it even if it was worse, no questions asked.”