Good Samaritans recall heroic water rescue

VAN ZANDT COUNTY, Texas - The path of destruction that tornadoes left Saturday afternoon can still be seen across the Canton area. The storms killed four people and injured 49 others.

But as we learn of more destruction, we also meet people who helped save lives.

One family who was trying to get out of harm’s way ended up finding themselves in need of rescuing.

Korry Prox was driving along Highway 64, just north of Interstate 20 near Canton, when he found himself in the middle of a life-and-death water rescue.

“I didn't know who was on the other side,” the Good Samaritan said. “I just knew I had to help.”

A black SUV had hydroplaned off the roadway and landed on its roof in a drainage ditch. Two people were stuck in the front seat but able to breathe. Their two small children were trapped in the backseat underwater.

“Just praying to the Good Lord, ‘Please don't let these babies die. Please don't let them die,’” Prox recalled.

The Good Samaritan, seen in dramatic cell phone video wearing the white t-shirt, helped three men pry open the rear driver's side door. The release of pressure allowed the other men to open the rear passenger side door and found an infant boy, limp. Tom Mitchell, the guy taking the cell phone video, went from bystander to lifesaver.

“I just jumped in and started doing CPR on the baby,” Mitchell said. “My phone went black when I was holding the baby, doing compressions and breathing.”

A woman can be heard in the background praying over Mitchell's shoulder.

“In the name of Jesus, let him breathe,” she can be heard saying. “Lord, let him breathe. Give him breath.”

“I started feeling better, and I felt the baby react,” Mitchell said. “And she continued praying, and that baby started coming back.”

Just then, the Good Samaritans found another child in the backseat: a 2-year-old girl who was still strapped in her car seat. By then, volunteers with the Terrell Fire Department showed up, took over CPR and gave the little girl CPR and oxygen.

Thanks to the help of first responders and a group of kind-hearted strangers, both kids and their parents survived.

“It was God's blessing,” Prox said. “God put me there at the right time, and I can't thank God enough.”

According to the kid's parents who have been posting updates on Facebook, their infant son is in good health and their daughter is now breathing on her own and able to open her eyes.