Hero in Brazil plucks mom and two children from car after family became trapped in dangerous floodwaters

A young man is being hailed as a hero after he saved a woman and her one-year-old twin daughters trapped in their car from flooding in Rio de Janeiro

Marcos de Souza, 29, was on a bus on his way home when the driver took a detour due to heavy rain in the city of Nova Iguaçu on Wednesday evening and suddenly heard people from a passing gym shouting that a car with people inside was being dragged. the flood waters.

That’s when De Souza sprang into action, after the bus stopped next to the car in distress as it approached.

Dramatic footage showed De Souza planting his leg on the left rear tire, grabbing Brenda and Beatriz Mendes and handing them to one of the bus passengers.

“I didn’t even think about it, I just acted,” he told Brazilian news channel G1. ‘The car approached and I managed to put my foot down and help the lady and her two daughters.’

Marcos de Souza (right) was reunited with Jorge Mendes and Berlandia Mendes on Thursday, a day after he rescued her and her twin daughters from flooding in Rio de Janeiro after she and her children were trapped in the family car

De Souza was seen in the video handing over backpacks containing the family’s belongings.

He reached out to Berlandia Mendes and told her to “take my hand” before helping her onto the bus.

Mendes’ car was swept through the streets shortly after she boarded the bus.

“I have thought for a long time that a tragedy did not occur in a matter of seconds,” De Souza said. ‘She thanked me very much, she said she had no words for what I did, that I had saved her life. I told her I was only doing what needed to be done.”

The bus de Souza was traveling suffered a mechanical failure due to the flood waters and passengers had to wait for the arrival of another bus to continue their journey.

Berlandia Mendes and her one-year-old twin daughters were rescued by a bus passenger on Wednesday when she became trapped in the family vehicle as water rushed down a Rio de Janeiro street.

De Souza chose to walk home in the rain and found his house and his aunts’ house – which is next to his – partially flooded with serious damage to furniture and electrical appliances.

His life-changing actions did not go unnoticed and donations flowed into a crowdfunding account to help him and his family.

Mendes and her husband, Jorge Mendes, reunited with de Souza on Thursday and expressed gratitude for saving her and the children.

“This is my angel, who saved my life,” Mendes said. “God sent him to save my life and the lives of my daughters.”

The storm claimed the lives of three residents in the Rio de Janeiro region, including two people after their house collapsed in the city of Japeri.