FLORENCE, Miss. — Heavy rain and flooding prompted rescues in the south, with deputies racing to pull more than 100 children from a day care as waters rose.
More than 100 children and staff were inside The Railroad Center day care when floodwater began to overtake the building Wednesday, WAPT reported.
Photos and videos posted to the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department’s Facebook page show the effort to help the children and staff to safety. The video shows deputies in waders handing crying children to other adults in waiting high-water rescue vehicles.
Florence Mayor Bob Morris told WJTV that there were 104 children between the ages of 6 weeks and 5 years inside the day care when the flooding began. The children were taken to a nearby facility before they were picked up and taken home.
Deputies were also called to rescue 42 residents of the Peach Tree Village Nursing home in Brandon using similar high-water rescue vehicles, WAPT reported.
“This is some straight-up local superhero-type stuff,” Courtney Ingle, whose grandmother lives at the nursing home, told The Associated Press. “What it boils down to is all the stuff they lost is replaceable. The 42 people they rescued are not.”
Rain is forecast to continue with flooding possible through Saturday in Central Mississippi, the Mississippi Clarion Ledger reported.