Israeli Saves Houston Couple from Hurricane Harvey

The Fellowship  |  August 30, 2017

A kitchen completely underwater from a flood.
Former IDF Soldier Saves Houston Couple in Hurricane Aftermath

Hurricane Harvey has certainly shown us pictures and told us stories of tragedy and destruction. But it has also shown us the good in humanity. One of these stories, told to us by Ynet News’ Itamar Eichner, is of an Israeli whose career took him to Texas and whose IDF training helped him save his Houston neighbors:

With Hurricane Harvey leaving Houston, Israeli Houstonian Yaniv Jerupi shared his risky rescue efforts in the neighborhood, including kayaking to save an elderly couple trapped in their home.

Jerupi, an Israeli residing in the fourth largest city in the US documented the devastation throughout the city, telling Ynet his home in the Meyerland neighborhood wasn’t hit due to its high altitude, but the house of his friend Lior was completely flooded. He also documented how rising water levels almost completely covered street signs in the neighborhood.

In his 15 years of living in the US, Jerupi says he has never seen a storm as hard hitting as Harvey. “We’ve been through Ike, Rita and Hurricane Katrina,” he says, “but nothing could prepare us for this kind of storm. No housing evacuations were ordered so we didn’t think damage would be this great. When we realized the neighborhoods were flooded it was already too late.”

Jerupi also said that in the hour of crisis, his instinct as a former IDF soldier came to the fore.”Our character, and the Israeli ex-soldier instinct, led us to search for Israeli families who have been cut off due to the floods,” he said, “and we made sure to take them to safety…”

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