Dad Who Can't Swim Saves 11-Month-Old Son from Sinking Car During Flood: 'Really Scary'
"I could have actually lost them both," Andre Randles' partner, Paige Newsome, told Sky News about him saving their son Luca
"I could have actually lost them both," Andre Randles' partner, Paige Newsome, told Sky News about him saving their son Luca Alex Lentati/LNP/Shutterstock Flooding from Storm Bert in the U.K.:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/london-storm-bert-flooding-112524-1-be90e817b06a4fee969281676caacf77.jpg "Commuters brave the deep surface waters on the A3 slip road near Kingston south-west London this morning as the affects of Storm Bert continue to be felt across the UK.")
A British dad is being hailed as a hero after his family said he recently managed to save his 11-month-old son from a flooding car during a heavy storm.
On Saturday, Nov. 23, Paige Newsome wrote on Facebook that her partner, Andre Randles, had pulled their son Luca to safety as Storm Bert brought heavy rain and strong winds to the U.K. over the weekend.
Alongside a photo of the family's sinking car in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, Newsome wrote, "This is our car, such a scary experience for Andre having to pull himself and our 11-month-old baby out of the car windows, whilst the water was flooding into the car."
Newsome thanked the owners of a home nearby for looking after her partner and their little one after the rescue.
"I cannot thank those owners enough for taking Andre and Luca into their home and helping them," she wrote. Andrew McCaren/LNP/Shutterstock Flooding from Storm Bert in York
According to the BBC, Randles, 22 — who can't swim — found himself on the road after he had been diverted by the closure of a different route. He told the outlet that a sudden dip in the road meant he didn't have time to avoid the rising flood water.
"As soon as I saw danger, saw the water coming into the car and we were no longer floating and starting to sink, something switched in me," Randles said.
He added that the car quickly became "almost completely submerged in water," telling the outlet, "I thought I needed to get out and get Luca out."
"I thought I'm going to have to get out, I'm going to have to smash a window," Randles recalled to Sky News.
"The water was chest high, I held him up as high as I could to keep him out of the water," he said, per the outlet, insisting, "It wasn't raining so heavily, I've driven in much worse rain." Ioannis Alexopoulos/LNP/Shutterstock Flooding in the U.K. caused by Storm Burt
Calling the whole thing "really scary," Newsome told Sky News: "To think I could have actually lost them both — I don't know how I would've lived."
She echoed that to the BBC: "It could've been a completely different outcome. We could not be sitting here with both of them, so I'm very grateful to Andre."
"I'm very proud of him and of how fast-thinking he was," Newsome said.
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On Sunday, the U.K.'s Meteorological Office warned on X (formerly known as Twitter) that heavy rain from the storm had led "to flooding issues across parts" of the country, urging people to "be aware that river levels will continue to rise, even after the rain has passed;"
The Met Office added on its website, "There have been large rainfall accumulations with some places having seen in excess 130 mm (about 5.1 inches) in the last 24 hours and wind gust of over 75 miles per hour in some exposed areas."
