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'I was petrified': Jones County neighbors rescued from flash flood

Responding deputies say they just did what's right

JONES COUNTY, Ga. — As flash floods ripped across some parts of Central Georgia this week, Jones County deputies and a neighbor teamed up to save two people.

"I was petrified. I was stuck in the bedroom, I couldn't get out, I tried to open up the door [and] the door would not open because of the pressure of the water, so I went the other way. I ran through it,” said Keith Applegate.

He says his 82-year-old neighbor, Charlie Lucero, got swept up by the water. He found her, clinging to a tree in his yard holding on for dear life.

"We were hollering for 45 minutes… ‘Help, help, help.’ With the water being so loud, it makes it hard for people to hear out here. I was glad that Mr. Jackson heard me because when I heard someone holler back, I knew that I was halfway safe,” said Applegate.

John Simmons, an investigator with the Jones County Sheriff’s Office, says the water went up to his chest.

“We found Mr. Applegate at the back of the residence on the screened-in porch and he had a crate with two dogs in it. We, at that time, got Mr. Jackson's boat and Mr. Applegate and we brought them back here to dry land,” said Simmons.

Simmons, Jackson, and others at the sheriff’s office say they just did what’s right.

"We just reacted, you know? We got in and saw that they needed some help… got our feet wet and took care of it,” said Simmons.

Applegate says the flash flood lasted about an hour and a half. He says he’s lucky everyone made it out alive.

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