In the quiet hours before dawn in Jonestown, Texas, one man’s gut instinct turned into a heroic act of pure selflessness, saving an entire family from the raging floodwaters that would later wash their home away.
Matthew Crowder was simply on his way to work when he noticed something was terribly wrong. “I had intended on leaving, going home and enjoying the rest of my day,” he said. “But something just kept me there.” That “something” became the reason four children, a mother, and even their dogs are alive today.
It was pitch black, the water rising fast, and Chrissy and her three children, Dove, Mion, and Benji, were still asleep in their home, along with another child having a sleepover. “My son heard, and he came and ran to me in the bedroom with a very forceful, ‘Mom, there’s a man screaming! We’ve got to go now!’” Chrissy remembered.
She opened the door and couldn’t believe what she saw. “There was a raging river that it appeared underneath my house. It was terrifying,” she said. That stranger outside? It was Matthew, urging them to leave immediately, before it was too late.
“I didn’t trust the house,” Matthew recalled. “So it was getting out of the house before it had gotten worse.” With floodwaters threatening to swallow the home’s foundation, Matthew guided the group over a chain-link fence, into the back of a pickup truck, and finally to safety in a neighbor’s yard.
But the rescue wasn’t without peril. As they fled, Chrissy’s daughter Dove slipped. “Lost her shoe, nearly went down the river with my car,” Chrissy said. In that terrifying moment, her brother dove (yes, his name is Dove!) grabbed her by the hair and saved her life. “I was a mess, just screaming, hysterical, and hyperventilating,” Chrissy admitted. “But my kids were so brave. Then he looked at me and said, ‘Mom, we’re alive. Snap out of it.’”
Matthew, who had never experienced anything like this before, did his best to stay calm and focused. “It was just doing what made sense to me and stepping up as a natural leader and just being that calm and giving that clear instruction,” he said.
Even their dogs made it out, four in total. “These boys had them in their arms immediately,” Chrissy said, smiling. “We’re so glad that we all got out alive.”
Days later, the family reunited with their rescuer in a beautiful, emotional moment. “It’s so good to see you,” Chrissy said, beaming. “Thank you so much for reuniting us. It was really emotional. He’s been a really great angel on this earth.”
“Harvey, he’s my angel,” she added. “Thank you so much for saving our lives. I’m beyond words.”
As cleanup begins in flood-ravaged areas like Jonestown, just northwest of Austin, residents like Matthew are rolling up their sleeves. “It’s just cleanup now, going through what we have left and what we can do to rebuild, just to be better for future years,” he said. “But it’s hard not knowing if this will happen again.”
A dear friend of the family has started a GoFundMe to help Chrissy and her children begin rebuilding their lives. “We have a long road ahead, so we’re just grateful to share our story and ask the world to really help us,” she said.
From the edge of disaster, one stranger’s decision to act became a lifeline. In Chrissy’s words: “I can’t say enough. He saved us. That’s all I can say.”
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