Simone Edmon is a bus driver for the Dallas Independent School District whose quick actions helped save the lives of two children nearly carried away by raging flood waters.
“It had to be God to send me that way because I don’t normally go that way,” Simone Edmond told KDFW in Dallas.
Image Source: YouTube
The boy and girl were spotted desperately clinging to trees when Edmond and the bus monitor, Tekedria Valentine (who would also shoot the video of the rescue(, tied seatbelts together for the children to grab hold of as neighbors pitched in and helped deliver the children to safety.
KDFW reporter David Sentendrey remarked how “teamwork makes the dream work,” as this rescue clearly illustrates. Edmond is convinced that divine intervention was deeply involved in saving those children. Their bus was traveling empty, but they were on their way to pick up a student who had missed an early bus.
Image Source: YouTube
The student lived on a different route, so the two were in an area they didn’t normally drive. The student they were sent to pick up wasn’t at the location.
“We were just in the area, I was like maybe it was a waste of time, but then when we seen what we seen, I was like maybe that was God putting us there in that area for that reason,” Valentine said.
Image Source: YouTube
The two children were caught in record-breaking floodwaters with their dad trying his best to help them. They called 911 but knew there wasn’t time to wait.
That’s when they thought about using the bus’s seatbelts to assist with the rescue. Thankfully, the bus was uniquely equipped with removable straps used for wheelchairs.
Image Source: YouTube
KXAS reported that Edmond, who has been a bus driver with the district for over 20 years, said:
“I’ve driven in snow, rain, sleet, but never a flood like this.”
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The children were eternally grateful, and the boy can be heard in the video saying, “I want to give you a hug!”
The rescue was even more incredible, considering neither of the women knew how to swim!
“‘We were like taking a chance ourselves,’ said Edmond.”
Image Source: YouTube
The teamwork of the monitor and bus driver is credited with saving the children and, very likely, their father as well. But these ladies don’t consider themselves to be heroes.
“‘I don’t really consider myself a hero,’ Edmond told the school district.
“‘I just feel like I was doing what I needed to do at the time, and if I had to, I would do it all over again.’
Image Source: YouTube
Sentendrey also observed that:
“Coincidentally, Dallas ISD’s bus lot already has a sign that reads: ‘Heroes Work Here.’”
We can certainly confirm the employment of at least two!
You can also watch a video about this story below.
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Sources:
- “”It Had to Be God”: Bus Driver and Monitor Save Kids from Floodwaters Using Seat Belts” Liftable.