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Hurricane Florence aftermath: Journalists rescue woman from car stuck in floodwaters

LATTA, S.C. — They were in the right place at the right time

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>> On WSOCTV.com: Tracking Florence: Live updates from the Carolinas

Reporter Chris Jose and photojournalist Brandon Bryant with Atlanta's WSB-TV, which is owned by Cox Media Group, have been in South Carolina covering what is now tropical depression Florence. The two are making their way to Fayetteville, North Carolina, to cover the flooding and damage left by the storm there.

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They were driving up Interstate 95 when they found the roadway flooded over around Latta, South Carolina.

Jose said they decided to take some of the back country roads to get around the flooding when they ran across a woman who was stuck inside her car, with floodwater rapidly rising up around it.

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The two said the woman was yelling, "Help me! Help me!” The area was under a tornado warning, adding to the already dangerous situation.

Knowing they had to do something, Jose said he drove their SUV as far as they could into the water without getting stuck and Bryant, wearing a pair of waders, got out into the water, which was about waist-deep.

When Bryant got to the woman’s car, he found Barbara Flanagan inside, praying.

"It just pulled me in and I couldn’t stop it. I had my foot on the brake, but it wouldn’t stop," Flanagan said.

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Bryant said he told Flanagan he was going to open the door and that water was going to come flooding in, be she was going to be alright.

He got the door open and was able to grab the woman and help her out her car.

"I couldn't leave you out there," Bryant told the woman. “My heart wouldn’t allow me.”

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As they made their way through the floodwaters, Flanagan told Bryant she was from Georgia and was a worker with the USDA, who was responding to the area for storm relief.

She said some of her coworkers had taken the same route shortly before her and the road was clear.

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"Looks can be deceiving," Flanagan told Jose. "Don’t go through the water."

A man in a pickup truck pulled up behind the WSB-TV crew's SUV and offered to help get the woman's car out of the floodwater. The woman's car was still able to run, despite the high water.