Nursing home residents evacuated from Harvey flood waters

Residents of a nursing home in Dickinson, Texas, were evacuated Sunday after a viral image showed them sitting in waist-deep flood waters.

Eighteen people were rescued, including 15 seniors, from the La Vita Bella living facility, a city official told The Galveston County Daily News.

"We were airlifting grandmothers and grandfathers," David Popoff of Dickinson County Emergency Management told The Daily News, who showed him the viral image. "These people have been evacuated."

Harvey made landfall late Friday night as a Category 4 storm, with sustained winds of 130 mph, slamming coastal communities overnight. Winds eased throughout the day Saturday as Harvey lost strength, becoming a tropical storm by Saturday afternoon.

The emergency rescue took place after a viral image showed several residents sitting amongst the flood waters.

Timothy McIntosh, who tweeted the image, told the outlet that his mother-in-law took the photo around 9 a.m. on Sunday.

"RESCUED!! Thank you to the National Guard & the Galveston City Emergency crew for our rescue," McIntosh tweeted shortly after the rescue was confirmed. 

In:
• Hurricane Harvey
• Texas
• Flood