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Officers rescue woman in wheelchair from floodwaters

ATLANTA — Three Atlanta police officers rescued a wheelchair-bound woman from rising water on Tuesday.

"I wouldn't call us heroes. We were just doing our duty,” officer Travis Gray told Channel 2 Action News.

Body-camera video showed the high water the officers had to wade through to get to the Buckhead home.

It was around 4-feet deep and rising from a nearby raging creek after heavy downpours moved through the area.

Neighbors told the three officers that a woman in a wheelchair needed help.

"That's what we get called to do and we respond and do it,” Gray said.

Before the officers could get to the woman, they had to shut off the power.

Once inside, they realized the challenge facing them.

"She was just trapped by the water,” officer Abraham Arias said. “Time was against us.”

"I can't really say (it was) stressful, because we're mainly just thinking about her, trying to get her out,” officer Elton Alexander said.

They quickly wrapped the woman in life vests but they knew they couldn't carry her out easily because the water was too deep.

"Lifting her up was not an option,” Arias said.

Thinking fast, the officers called in a floatation device from the Sandy Springs Fire Department.

As they moved her from the wheelchair and carried her to safety, she got her first look at what was happening outside.

"She was surprised that there was so much water around her home,” Arias said.

Once on dry land, the officers say they realized this could have ended much worse.

"At the end of the day, she's our main concern,” Alexander said.

Woman in wheelchair rescued from flood waters

Dramatic body cam video shows 3 officers rescuing a woman in a wheelchair as flood waters rose around her inside her home. http://2wsb.tv/2t0i57c

Posted by WSB-TV on Friday, June 23, 2017