Good Samaritans aid flooded out family
By: Toni Walker
Editor of The Steel Country Bee
With all the recent heavy rains and flooding, residents were reminded, almost hourly, to never drive into water-covered roads. But what happens when your house is on a one-way in, one way out County Road that is flooded? That was the question Don Martin had to answer on March 8.
Martin lives on County Road 1201, off of Highway 144 in Cason. When the road became flooded on March 7, he and his wife took to higher ground, leaving their home behind. However, Martin had the need to return to his home. “I decided I was going to walk to the house to get us some clothes, so we could stay somewhere else another night,” Martin said. Martin parked his car on 144, where his wife waited while he made the trek through the flood water to their home.
As his wife sat in the car, Martin says that three people stopped, offering their assistance. “They asked her if she needed help,” Martin said, “and she told them no, she was fine. She then told them that I had walked to the house to get clothes.”
The “perfect strangers,” as Martin called them, then told his wife it was too dangerous for him to walk back. That is when they stepped in and went above and beyond for their fellow man. They left Mrs. Martin, and returned with a boat, which they then paddled to Martin’s gate at his house, waiting for him to return. “They did not live in the area,” Martin said. “They lived all the way on the other end of 144, down in Jenkins. But they came back and paddled to my house so I would not have to walk back through the flood waters,” Martin said.
The good Samaritans, whom Martin only knows as James, Bubba, and Crysten, made an impression on him. “I really appreciate the Godly act of these perfect strangers. They truly are good Samaritans, and I want to make sure everyone knows that there are still good people in this world,” said Martin.
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