Guy Swept Away In Texas Flood And Stuck In A Tree Gives Calm TV Interview

News anchors at television station KVUE are stunned
when they realize the person they're interviewing
is stranded 20 feet up a tree by floodwaters on Friday.  

At the end of yesterday's post I wrote about the Texas flood, I included a YouTube clip taken by a motorist inside a car being swept rapidly down a badly flooding creek. Scary stuff.

The guy, Kerry Packer, had emailed the video to his wife, who shared it with Austin, Texas television station KVUE.

Now we have an interview with this guy. It's one of the most incredible, strangest interviews I've heard.

The clip you'll see below starts with the anchors at KVUE, who were providing live coverage of the flood emergency, interviewing Packer.

Early in the interview, you can tell the reporters assumed, like all of us, that Packer had been rescued. After all, why would he be talking to the television station?  He seemed so calm as he talked.

It turns out Packer called KVUE to describe his experience.

One of the anchors asked Packer where he was now.

He said he was still 20 feet up a tree he'd climbed up in the flood waters. He'd grabbed the tree as his car floated by.

You'll see how stunned the reporters are: "Wait, wait, you're still up in the TREE?!?!?" one of them asks.

Kerry Packer looks pretty good, considering this photo
was taken a few minutes after he was rescued from a tree
after spending four hours there trapped by floodwaters.  

Packer remains totally calm, as if he's sitting at a desk in his high and dry office.

"Oh, no, I'm fine... Thankfully this is the nicest tree here. It's a little cold, but I did Boy Scouts for 20 years, so I know how to keep my energy up and keep warm, so I'm doing fine."

The news anchors don't look like they're doing fine. They're ashen with concern. They pump him politely but aggressively for information on precisely where he is, so that rescuers can find him.

All the while, Packer is chatting amiably with the two KVUE anchors.  He tells them he can't see any un-submerged land, and he's in large tree he believes is in the northeast corner of a country club.

Emergency responders later confirmed to KVUE that they'd rescued Packer after he'd been in the tree for four hours and he's fine.

The takeaway: If you need someone who would be totally, totally calm in an emergency, find Kerry Packer in the Austin, Texas area.

Another takeaway: This flood interview is even better than the one in which a South Carolina woman said in a recent flash flood at her house she took her dog and two Totinos pizzas as she fled.

Here's the amazing news clip of this Texss flood interview: