‘This is the Titanic, we’re going down’: Couple rescued from sinking car
By Michelle Bandur
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Omaha, Nebraska (KETV) — The City calls this area between Jones Street and Leavenworth Street a natural valley, where rainwater can wash into the Missouri River.
Saturday night, the intersection turned into a raging river during the rainstorm. A pizza delivery driver and his fiance had the ride of their lives.
“Next thing you know, I feel the car rocking and we’re floating,” Haley Graham said.
“Off the ground,” Dontavius Haynes said.
The engaged couple was inside their car when they ran into the flooding at 13th and Leavenworth Streets.
“I said, ‘Babe, this is like the titanic. We’re going down,” Graham said.
The pizza delivery driver was on his way with a pizza, when the torrential rain started and his fiance driving to pick up their five kids, called.
“I called him because I couldn’t see, so he picked me up. Sure enough, we were coming down Leavenworth and kinda ran into it,” Haynes said. “Hit our first pole, the light pole we hit, and then we smacked into a car and smacked into another car.”
Karen Granger watching in a nearby townhome recorded them floating down the street and started yelling at them.
“Hey get out! Get out of your car! Get out!” she said.
The couple said guardian angels came to their rescue. In the video, a man runs through the water to save the couple.
“Get out! C’mon. C’mon! Oh my God, Oh my God. They’re going to get hit. They’re going to get hit,” can be heard on the video.
“Just in a flick of a second, everything opens and comes down,” Haynes said. “Somebody was watching us. Somebody was watching over us that night.”
The car is most likely totaled from the crashes and being submerged in water. Haynes said that’s OK. He’s back with his family.
“I’m just thankful to see another day and be here you know,” he said.
The pizza survived. Haynes said the pizza box floated, keeping everything inside dry.
A GoFundMe has been set up for the Omaha flooding survivors.
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