WALKER COUNTY, Texas — A family is sharing their story of survival after their car plunged into rushing water when a road north of Houston collapsed under the weight of heavy rainfall.
The rain left a 25-foot hole on FM 2989 in Walker County, catching the couple off-guard as they drove through a thunderstorm between Huntsville and Madisonville.
“We drove slowly because we’re thinking we’re going to go over a ditch and the car dropped, nosedived, it felt like a bottomless pit,” Jaquila Goodman told KHOU 11 News. "Immediately, water started gushing into the car. I got my baby out of the seat. We got out the seatbelts."
Goodman said her fiancé, Sylvester Degrate, acted quickly to get them out of the sinking car even though he was badly hurt.
“He jumped in the backseat and opened up the door and how he opened it up, he don’t even know because all of the water and the pressure," Goodman said.
She handed Degrate the baby and he sat her on the roof while he helped Goodman get out. The raging current took her pants, her boots and nearly her.
“I can feel nothing but water and current trying to suck me in. Had he not held me I would have been under the car," Goodman told us. "When I got to the top, I started screaming for help. I’m like, 'Somebody help, help, help, help! I have a baby. We need help right now. Please send some help.'"
The family was taken by ambulance to Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston. Goodman said Degrate has broken bones on his face from the airbags and an injured hip and will need surgery. His knuckles were all cut up from trying to break the back window.
Goodman said she and their daughter are also battered and bruised but she's grateful.
“God is good all the time that’s all I have to say about that," Goodman said. “Oh my goodness, my fiancé is our Superman.”
They weren't the only ones who drove into the deep hole overnight. Karissa and Joe Wilkie barely made it out of their car before it was swept away. Joe Wilkie said they helped Degrate and his family while they all waited for rescue crews.