A flash-flooded Atlanta interstate became a rescue scene when veteran George Brathwaite spotted a woman stranded on top of her car and pulled over to help.
Brathwaite, an African American veteran from Atlanta, Georgia, and his wife, Chyna, rescued the woman during flooding on Interstate 75/85 near Baker Street in downtown Atlanta, after water turned sections of the Downtown Connector into fast-moving currents and stopped traffic.
The couple said they were not supposed to be on that route when they saw the woman sitting on top of her vehicle, surrounded by water, as other cars passed.
“We see her just sitting in the middle of the street like that,” Brathwaite told 11Alive. “I had no choice but to pull over.”
Brathwaite stepped into the rushing water and made his way to the car. He carried the woman on his back through the flooded roadway and kept talking to her because she appeared scared and overwhelmed.
“You cool with getting on my back?” he recalled asking her. “Hey, my name is George. So what’s your name?”
Chyna Brathwaite said she pushed him to move straight away.
“I told him that if he wouldn’t go get her, I was gonna go get her,” she said.
Brathwaite said he hesitated for a moment and joked that he first thought about his new shoes before stepping into the water. Once he reached the woman, he focused on getting her to safety.
The woman was later brought into the couple’s truck, where she stayed until the Georgia State Patrol arrived. Chyna Brathwaite said the woman repeatedly thanked them after she was safe.
The couple said they have lived in Atlanta for eight years and had never seen flooding that severe in the city. Brathwaite said the scene was chaotic, with drainage systems struggling under heavy rain.
Brathwaite served in the military from 2009 to 2013 and completed a tour in Iraq. He said helping was an immediate decision once he saw someone in danger.
“Help somebody,” he said. “More people are riding by just looking at them. Help somebody, man. I ain’t do this for clout… You help somebody.”
Read more from Black News.
