By Moses Leos III.
Last week’s historic floods hit hard in the Onion Creek area in southern Travis County. Cresting at a height of 40 feet, Onion Creek rose to historic levels not seen in nearly a century.
Those who live along Pinehurst drive, near the Onion Creek Golf Course, witnessed first hand the wrath of nature.
But as the cleanup began, so did the stories of neighbors helping neighbors.
Perhaps no story exemplifies that more than the experience of Jeff Yates and Don Lougheed.
Above is the mailbox that Onion Creek resident Jeff Yates used to anchor himself while trying to save neighbor Don Lougheed. (Photo by Moses Leos III) |
Like many along Pinehurst, Lougheed and his wife, Kathy, attempted to evacuate the rising Onion Creek.
However, they were trying to save their cars, too. Kathy was able to make it three doors down before her car quit. She was able to find high ground.
Lougheed was not so lucky, as his car stalled in the middle of Pinehurst Drive.
Before he knew it, water was lapping at his car windows. He struggled to get out, eventually moving to the rear of the car, holding onto the door handles. He attempted to reach the curb of his home. However, the current kept him from walking back to his house.
As Lougheed walked back to the front of his car, the water level reached the headlights. He was forced to climb onto the hood of his car. Eventually, the water level forced him to climb onto the roof, where he stayed for three hours on his hands and knees.
Lougheed was worried the swift current would sweep him away; he thought he was going to die.
“I made my peace with everyone,” he said. “There was no one around. It was pitch black.”
As he yelled for help, a neighbor heard his pleas.
Jeff Yates heeded the call after helping his family and an elderly neighbor escape to the top of his roof. That’s when he heard Lougheed.
He saw Lougheed on the top of his car and sprung into action.
With no rope available, Yates tied two water hoses together, and tied them around himself. With the aid of another neighbor, he tried to swim out to the stranded Lougheed.
The current was too strong to reach the car. Yates then sought a few more hoses to add on. He tried to tie them around a brick-and-mortar mailbox to anchor a lasso. His plan was to reel in Lougheed.
However, the mailbox, weakened by the flood waters, broke. By a sheer stroke of luck, the hefty mailbox fell on top of the water hoses, securing them “quite nicely,” according to Yates.
Yates used the downed mailbox as a stepping stool, and began to toss the hoses to Lougheed. He was twice unsuccessful. A neighbor helped tied knots to help make the hose heavier.
All the while, Yates encouraged Lougheed, telling him he was going to get him.
“What saved me was his encouragement,” Don said. “He kept saying, ‘Don’t you worry, I’ll be there.’”
Finally, Yates got the hose to Lougheed, who tied the hose around himself. Slowly, Yates and a neighbor reeled in Lougheed to the calmer waters of Yates’ cul-de-sac.
Lougheed was not shy in saying Yates was an “absolute hero.”
“I would’ve been dead without him,” he said.
For Yates, it was just doing the neighborly thing. The title of “hero,” he felt was a “powerful word.” He does not look at it that way.
“I was helping a neighbor in distress,” he said. “I believe anyone in the (my) position would’ve done the same thing.”
