Texas teen tweets of love for his truck during harrowing flood rescue

DALLAS — A dangerous flash flood nearly led to a Texas-sized tragedy during a weekend of extreme weather in the small town of Sanger, but a daring helicopter rescue led to a happy ending for two trapped teens — and one boy's beloved truck.

Lane Wisdom, 17, and his teenage pal, Gus McNairy, were driving down Duck Creek Road 50 miles northwest of Dallas on Sunday afternoon when the byway’s namesake overflowed its banks.

Looking back, Wisdom says he should have turned around, but “my truck had already made it through a foot of water so I kept pushing.”

It’s a decision he almost didn’t live to regret.

In an instant, raging currents swept Wisdom’s 2001 Chevrolet Silverado truck off the road. Waters rose beyond 4 feet in a flash. The teens grabbed their cellphones and quickly climbed atop the maroon half-ton Chevy. The ordeal was captured by Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA-TV.

The pair looked like they were marooned in the middle of the Mississippi River.  With rescuers on their way, Wisdom began sharing the harrowing experience on social media.

“Tweeting live from my roof go look on the news,” read Wisdom’s first dispatch, along with a colorful in-the-moment characterization. “It was like out of a movie it was a foot deep then a massive wave pushed me off the road and flooded it out.”

The first rescuers on the scene tried to carry life vests to the teens but found the currents too intense. A boat wouldn't be safe either.

According to the National Weather Service, about 7 inches of rain have fallen near Sanger in the past week. Much of North Texas was under flash flood watches or warnings throughout the weekend. More torrential rain is forecast this week.

The Texas Army National Guard used large trucks or a Black Hawk helicopter to rescue dozens of flood victims across the region on Sunday.

Wisdom and McNairy, 16, were stranded for about an hour before the chopper could pluck them from the angry waters.

“Scary,” is the only thing McNairy said to WFAA-TV when he reached safety.

Wisdom declined to comment at the scene but later used Twitter to thank his rescuers. According to the National Weather Service, flooding and flash flooding combined are a leading cause of weather-related fatalities in the United States each year. Many of those cases begin with drivers trying to cross high water.

On Instagram, Wisdom offered a “huge thank you” to the rescuer who slammed into a metal fence while descending from the helicopter.

“Of course I was responsible and had Gus go [to the helicopter] before me seeing that it was my fault,” Wisdom wrote.

Meanwhile, Wisdom's friends were already paying their respects to “VortecXpress,” his affectionate name for his truck, on social media.

According to his Instagram account, Wisdom inherited the Chevy from an older brother last year. The odometer reads nearly 300,000 miles, but that didn’t faze Wisdom. He recently wrote on Instagram that a summer job would allow him to spruce up the vehicle.

“This oil leakin 8 lug money pit is where I find my happiness,” he wrote on Instagram last week. “Every single morning when I start her and hear that old 6.0 brought to life I say ‘good morning beautiful’ and smile. I have a lot of good memories in this truck and a billion more are to come with her go ahead make fun of me but just stop and ask yourself, are you actually happy with your life?”

By Monday morning, the rain had stopped and the sun was out in Sanger — allowing Wisdom to bring his prized, albeit waterlogged, possession home.

Jason Sickles is a reporter for Yahoo News. Follow him on Twitter (@jasonsickles).