LAUDERHILL, Fla. – Nerosier Valcy thought he was going to die.
The sun had set, and the rain was pelting during Tropical Storm Eta, when he drove his car into a Lauderhill canal.
“The car was filling up with water, I tried to go back to the backseat, and I couldn’t get it,” he said. “I tried to push [the door] and I couldn’t get it.”
Valcy said he was working for a food delivery company and looking for an address in the Woodhue apartment complex. The street was flooded, so he said he could not discern where the parking lot ended, and the adjacent canal began.
He called 911 from inside his sinking car.
“I called 911. I spent seven minutes with them on the phone, then after that, that’s it,” he said.
In audio from that frantic call, obtained by Local 10, Valcy can be heard asking a dispatcher to say goodbye to his loved ones.
But with the help of a Good Samaritan, Lauderhill Fire Rescue crews pulled Valcy out of the flooded car and onto an embankment.
“I don’t remember anything after I told the lady, ‘Tell my family I love them,’” he said.
The 55-year-old spent weeks at Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale and was initially on a ventilator. He was released in the beginning of December.
The first responders and dispatcher were recognized Monday evening at Lauderhill City Hall for their coordinated work to save Valcy’s life.
“Sometimes I still feel weak,” he said. “My body hurts me, my legs. But I think I’ll make it.”
The first responders from Lauderhill Fire Rescue were given special commendations by the city commission for their efforts to save Valcy.
He was in the audience to surprise them.
”To see him get up and walk toward us - we don’t usually get that,” said Lt. Joel Moniz.
”We all worked together, and thankfully our work gave the gentleman here another shot at life,” said firefighter Justin Wells.