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Human chain formed to rescue man after truck submerged in North Carolina floodwater

A group of bystanders pulled together, literally, to save a stranger after his truck was submerged in floodwater in Winston-Salem Thursday.
Photo: Chad Mabe

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WFMY)-- A man in Winston-Salem has several guardian angels to thank after they rescued him from his truck after it was submerged in floodwater.

76-year-old Mike Konstantopolous was looking for a nearby barber shop when he drove into the flooded Art Attack Tattoo shop parking lot Thursday afternoon.

"With the water, it looked completely flushed, but the truck just drove straight into it unknowingly and he went down into the ditch," said Jennifer Fowler, one of the rescuers and manager at the shop, during an interview with WFMY News 2.

Fowler posted about the rescue on her Facebook page after she and several other people formed a human chain and pulled the man to safety.

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After the truck goes into the water, you see a man run to check on the driver as others race over to help, including Fowler. She and several other people you see in a video quickly formed a human chain to rescue the man whose truck went into a ditch. The front end of the truck was quickly consumed with water and only the partial back end of the truck can be seen.

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Scenes such as the ones in the video are ones we often see on social media, but rarely think will actually happen to us.

“You’re always like ‘Woah, that’s crazy! I wonder what I would do?” Fowler agrees.

Fowler and her team did what they would expect anyone to do in a situation like that and ran towards the danger to save another person’s life.

When she reached him, and as they fought the rushing tide to get back to dry land, she noticed some familiar face there to help.

“I looked back to my right and my other coworkers Mike and Houston were standing there, they had formed a human chain and they sort of pulled us both out of the water,” Fowler explained.

Thankfully, everyone was safe.

According to Konstantopolous' daughter, Michelle, he is thankful for his guardian angels.

"He is doing well, playing his computer games, loving on his dogs," she said.

Without Jennifer’s bravery and her coworkers’ help, this story could’ve ended very differently, but their “What would I do?” quickly turned into a “Why wouldn’t you?”

In the most touching moment after the rescue, you see Konstantopolous give Fowler a hug.

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