When an Ontario man heard that his sister’s house in Houston had flooded earlier this week, he bought an extreme-terrain vehicle, grabbed his best friend and headed to Texas.

Pat Quirk of Guelph, Ont., bought a $25,000 extreme-terrain vehicle that he could use both on land and in floodwaters.

His friend of more than 10 years, Bill Hamilton, a landscaper, didn’t hesitate to join him.

“He was worried, so he wanted to come down and wanted me to help him,” Hamilton said.

They loaded the extreme-terrain vehicle in the back of a pickup truck on Monday and drove across five states in 24 hours, arriving Tuesday.





Quirk’s sister was safe in a hotel. But the damage to her home was extensive.

“The second floor is good,” Hamilton said. “It’s the main floor that’s filled with water.”





But Quirk found another use for the extreme-terrain vehicle: rescuing others still trapped by the flood waters.

As of Friday, the two friends from Guelph had already rescued at least a dozen people.

With a report from CTV’s Melanie Nagy in Houston, Texas