Monster truck-driving man saves neighbors from Texas floods in 'redneck rescue'

As heavy rain fell over southeast Texas overnight Sunday into Monday, a man decided to put his monster truck to good use and cruise around saving his neighbors.

Cole Geeo, of Weatherford, Texas, got behind the wheel of his 8-foot monster truck Monday and drove around the area looking for people in trouble, WFAA reported.

“That's a redneck rescue, I do believe,” Dina Young Gray told the news station. Geeo saved her coworker, Deborah Wright, from the quickly rising waters of the Brazos River in Millsap, a town 80 miles west of Dallas.

“That's just how Millsap is,” she told WFAA. “We just look out for one another ... If this didn't work, we were going to get a boat.”

Emergency response officials said Monday that others should not follow Geeo's lead and should instead call 911 if they get stuck.

As many as 17 inches of rain fell over parts of Texas between Sunday night and 1:30 p.m. local time Monday, according to the National Weather Service, leading to widespread power outages and flooding.

By 2:30 p.m., authorities in Harris County had made 1,200 high-water rescues, according to the county's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

Authorities said flooding might have caused two deaths. Officials found a man dead in a semitruck that drove into high water on a Houston freeway service road, The Associated Press reported. Another man, who worked as a contractor for Houston's airport system, was also found dead in a submerged vehicle, according to the wire service.