By Kelsey Hammon

kelsey.hammon@leaderpub.com

 

Along the flooded county roads of Jefferson County, residents had become trapped by the rising waters brought on by Tropical Storm Harvey. With no options, people along those less traveled roads could do little else but sit and hope someone would find them.

Fortunately, a roving military vehicle carrying unit Venture Crew 2086 from the Young Marine Corporation Organization was trudging through the water. The crew blasted the vehicle’s horn as they sloshed by— a welcome sound to those trapped. Among the rescuers, was 18-year-old Monroe Powell IV, of Groves. Powell helped people aboard and spent days with the unit rescuing about 100 people who might have otherwise remained trapped.

Powell’s own home in Groves was not spared by Tropical Storm Harvey. Just three days before he joined rescuers, Powell and his family were rescued themselves. After a couple of days, Powell’s family began the process of cleaning up their home, but the high school student had a different goal.

“In my mind, cleaning up my own house was less important than saving people’s lives,” Powell said. “Cleaning can be done afterwards. I knew there were still people stuck that couldn’t get out.”

Powell is a Port Neches-Groves High School student who is training to become a Marine. He is enrolled in the Youth Marine Corp Organization. After the storm, Sergeant Major Patrick Hebner invited Powell on the mission to help rescue others in Jefferson County trapped by Harvey.

Powell and his unit from training, which included about five people, hopped into a military vehicle that was tall enough to power through the storm water. Over the course of four days, Venture Crew 2086 conducted rescue missions across Jefferson County, including the cities of Groves, Port Arthur, Beaumont and Vidor among others.

The unit scouted the area for those trapped in flooded homes and then brought them to an evacuation center. They targeted some of the worst impacted areas, including the backroads in the countryside, where Powell said many people had been stranded.

The rescue operation lasted about four days and Powell estimates that about 100 people were saved.

Of all the rescues that stick out in his mind, Powell said one of the most memorable was a woman who was unable to climb inside the vehicle because of knee problems. After she was helped inside, the woman was extremely grateful.

“She thanked us so much and I had never experienced anything like that,” Powell said. “When she thanked me she just gave me this big hug and started crying and was so thankful that we had got her.”

The woman told Powell that she felt that the unit finding her had been an act of God.

But the unit did more than bringing people to safe, dry ground.

They also drove out to a National Guard base and picked up water and packs of Meal, Ready to Eat — food typically used by the military that requires no preparation. The unit then dispersed the food and water to those in need.

After graduation, Powell hopes to follow in the footsteps of his father, Monroe Powell, and enlist to become a Marine.

“I am really in it for the challenge,” Powell said. “I want to challenge myself, but the reason that I am joining the military in general is that I want to protect what I love and keep them safe.”

For his first ever rescue mission, Powell got to do just that.

Knowing his son set his own needs aside to help others was heartwarming to see, said Powell’s father Monroe.

“I am so proud of him,” Monroe said. “I think they [the unit] deserves recognition, especially since he had no place of his own.”