HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Authorities want to know what a man was trying to do when he fell off a bridge into Lake Houston. Firefighters say the 24-year-old man was on the McKay Bridge last night when he somehow fell off. He hit some rocks before falling into the water.
Firefighters had to come out and lift the victim out of the water. He's in critical condition.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local » Kristy Gillentine, abc13.comHOUSTON (KTRK) -- A dog was found abandoned and severely injured last year, but with help from the Houston SPCA and a local veterinary clinic, she was able to find new life. Hope -- a one-year-old chocolate Labrador Retriever -- was rescued December 10, 2011. She was abandoned in a shed near the Westpark Tollway.
The dog was starved to the point that you could see each of her ribs, but that wasn't the worst part of her condition. She was also in tremendous pain
A tie-out chain around her right rear leg had been so tight that it cut into her skin and became embedded. The chain cut off circulation, swelling the paw to four times its normal size. She could barely walk.
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Video above is fromn Houston SPCA
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Still, Hope managed to wag her tail through the torture.
The Houston SPCA's injured animal ambulance rushed to the organization's headquarters on Portway Drive in northwest Houston where the healing began.
Jo Ann Ellis has been a Houston SPCA foster volunteer for 25 years. She began fostering Hope in the middle of December.
"She was so loving and forgetful of all her injuries," Ellis said. "She just had a spirit that I knew she would be a great dog. And she just stole my heart."
The Houston SPCA veterinary team worked to treat Hope's wounds, but her injuries were so severe that she required more specialized care.
Soon, the Center for Veterinary Pain Management and Rehabilitation in The Woodlands heard about Hope and decided to donate their time and expertise to her case.
"We were very fortunate in the fact that a veterinarian stepped in to help with this long process," Ellis said.
Dr. Rick Wall and his team at the Center for Veterinary Pain Management and Rehabilitation use a variety of therapies to bring relief to pets that are in pain and restore full function. It's the only veterinarian-owned practice of its kind in Texas.
"I had them bring her up and took a look at her," Wall said in an interview. "Got a pretty quick idea that it was definitely a problem with the circulation in the foot not returning, and that's why it had all of the edema
In addition to surgery, Hope received a combination of therapies, including lasers, bandages, open wound therapy and even leeches to remove congested blood. She was massaged after laser treatments and then ice was placed on her paw. And every night, she had a pressure wrap.
Hope received treatments three times a day, five days a week in 30- to 40-minute sessions for over three months.
"She never, ever had a problem with any of it. I think she knew we were helping her," Kari Koudelka, a registered veterinary technician who assisted with Hope's treatments, told HSPCA. "She knew we were making it feel better."
Once doctors got the swelling down and Hope began to use her paw more, they could tell she suffered soft tissue damage as well. So they ordered a custom splint made to support her foot.
The plan now is for Hope to wear the splint in intervals until the paw is fully healed and back to normal.
But Hope's life is already more normal than it was this time last year. She is healthier and happier, and she isn't missing any meals.
Houston SPCA officials said Hope has gained 23 pounds since she was rescued, and she has since been adopted into a loving, forever home.
The Houston SPCA's injured animal ambulances rescue thousands of animals in danger and distress every year, and it's the only service of its kind in the region. For more information on their cruelty investigations and rescue efforts or to make a donation, visit www.houstonspca.org.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local » HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Our Transtar JamCams captured a traffic crash involving several vehicles on the 610 West Loop northbound near Woodway. The incident happened at around 7:30pm Friday. No word on what caused it, but rescue crews had to pull out at least three people trapped inside their cars. The victims were taken to a hospital. We do not know their condition.
Crews blocked lanes in both directions to work the accident.
The lanes re-opened shortly after 9pm.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local » HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Some scary moments for a tree trimmer who had to be rescued while cutting branches outside a west Houston home. Investigators say 43-year-old Eugene Rodgers was using a chainsaw to clear branches when a dead limb fell onto a nearby power line. The lines began popping and sparking. Houston Fire Department and CenterPoint Energy crews responded and told the man to stay put until they shut down the lines.
Once the lines were de-energized, Rodgers was safely lowered to the ground. He was not injured.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »
A woman was rescued from this two-vehicle crash in the Montrose area on Hawthorne around 12:30am Sunday HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Police said car ran a red light overnight, and then flipped over and injured a woman. The accident happened in the Montrose area on Hawthorne around 12:30am Sunday.
According to investigators, a car ran a red light and T-boned another vehicle.
A woman was trapped inside one of the vehicles. Crews were able to rescue her and she was transported to an area hospital. At last check, she was listed in stable condition.
The driver of the other car was not injured.
It's not yet clear which driver ran the light.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »
GALVESTON, TX -- The small Kemp's ridley turtle looked miserable. His carapace was cracked, his lungs were damaged, his front right flipper was gone, a chunk was missing from the edge of his shell and he had pneumonia.
Two fishermen caught the battered turtle in their net July 24 and brought it to Surfside police, who called the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Sea Turtle Facility in Galveston.
The turtle was nursed back to health and transferred last week to the new $3 million Sea Life Facility at Texas A&M Galveston, where the public will have a rare opportunity to view an endangered species.
The lab -- part of a $43 million, 110,000 square-foot Ocean and Coastal Studies building that opened last year -- is one of only three on the Gulf Coast and is the most advanced, said Kimberly Reich, Marine Research Facility manager and head of the Sea Turtle and Fisheries Ecology Research Lab. Scientists at other universities are already queuing up for a space to conduct research at the lab, she said.
Meanwhile, the rescued turtle can be viewed through a glass window in the lobby near the Sea Life Facility, open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. It lives in a specially designed turtle tank with a constant current and a piece of plastic pipe that serves as a turtle house.
Reich said the university is in the process of transforming the now bare lobby into a sea life museum that will include numerous exhibits, including a large screen that will monitor sea creatures in 12 tanks in the state-of-the-art research lab.
Ben Higgins, sea turtle program manager at NOAA's Fort Crockett facility in Galveston, said the turtle is healthy enough to return to the wild but can't be released until the weather is warm enough. Transferring the turtle to Texas A&M frees tank space at the sea turtle facility for other injured turtles, Higgins said.
The NOAA sea turtle facility takes care of injured turtles found from Sabine Pass to the Brazos River.
"It's like a 911 for sea turtles," said Higgins, who took the turtle to Joe Flanagan, director of veterinary services at the Houston Zoo.
"He is at least two years old. Probably three or four," said Flanagan, who receives three to four dozen injured turtles from NOAA each year.
Reich says the turtle is being fed squid and shrimp injected with nutrients and that eventually he will be given live food, such as blue crab, that he will have to catch to prepare him for release into the wild.
The turtle doesn't have a name yet.
Classes of Houston-area children are being asked to submit ideas and a winner will be drawn in April, said Carole Allen, Gulf Coast Director of the Sea Turtle Restoration Project.
Teachers can send class entries for the naming contest to P.O. Box 681231, Houston, TX, 77268-1231.
(Copyright ©2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local » HOUSTON -- The Higgins family is spending Christmas at a Colorado hospital rather than being on a ski vacation, but the Texans are just thankful to be alive. Days after being rescued from their snow-covered SUV in New Mexico, the only family member still in the hospital is Yvonne Higgins, who is expected to fully recover from the bout of pneumonia she caught while struggling to stay alive in frigid conditions for nearly two days, her husband, David Higgins said.
David Higgins was released from a New Mexico hospital on Thursday after being diagnosed with pneumonia. The couple's 5-year-old daughter, Hannah, was given a clean bill of health hours after the family was rescued at about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. Yvonne Higgins was transferred to a hospital in Pueblo, Colo.
"We say `God bless you and thank you' to the New Mexico state troopers, the police department and the New Mexico National Guard," David Higgins said. "We were completely entombed in ice."
The family's ordeal began Monday when they left Texas for a vacation in New Mexico. Within hours, they got stuck in a large blizzard on U.S. Highway 412, just west of the Texas border, and could no longer drive. Their vehicle became buried under four feet of snow.
Due to cloud cover, the Higginses had spotty cell phone coverage -- unusual, they later found out, in the area where they were stranded. This allowed them to give responders enough clues to find their general location. Using probes, the rescuers began searching in a snowbank and after a few tries, hit the car.
"We were pretty much out of oxygen and it had started to get cold in there," David Higgins said.
Now, the family is together in Colorado, with Higgins' parents, Jim and Betty Higgins, who have come to spend Christmas with them.
Santa, though, won't be visiting until they return home to League City, Texas, a town about 25 miles southeast of Houston.
"We've already explained to Hannah that Santa understands the situation," David Higgins said. "When we get home, we'll have our big Christmas."
(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local » ALBUQUERQUE, NM (KTRK) -- It was a race against time for a local family trapped in their car under several feet of snow in New Mexico. And now, the family is telling Eyewitness News how they survived for two days buried in a blizzard. It was supposed to be a fun family vacation for a father, a mother, and their 5-year-old daughter from League City. But they ran into serious trouble just outside of Clayton, New Mexico. A snowstorm left them stranded for days and at times, wondering if anyone would find them alive.
The Higgins family is safe now and thankful to be alive. They are eternally grateful to the team of rescuers who never lost hope. They say their rescue was nothing short of a Christmas miracle.
The trip for Yvonne, David and little Hannah Higgins the skiing getaway at Angel Fire in New Mexico started out like any other -- until they got caught in a blinding blizzard outside the town of Clayton.
"We got about 30 miles down the road and all of a sudden you couldn't see the road; you couldn't see in front of you," David Higgins told us over the phone.
They had checked road conditions. Difficult driving was reported but the road was still open. They followed a snowplow for a while, but visibility dropped to zero.
"It was white. You couldn't even see the yellow line," David said.
It was getting so bad that he had slowed to about 5 mph.
"You're thinking there are these people from Colorado and New Mexico behind us going, `Those Texas drivers, they don't know how to drive in this snow,"' he said. "Then I'm thinking to myself, `How can they drive in this?' You can't even see."
Despite having snow tires on their SUV, the snow stopped the family in their tracks. David Higgins tried backing up and then driving forward again. He made some progress but then the back end slipped around and the vehicle started to slide down an embankment.
He was able to keep the car running for a couple of hours, but when he went to get out to clear the exhaust pipe, his door was blocked.
Early on, the family could hear vehicles passing, so they tried honking the horn. That didn't work.
The Higginses had their ski gear, plenty of water to drink, sandwiches, chips and Chex mix. But as the hours passed, it seems as if they were working harder to breathe inside the buried SUV.
"We weren't sure of it, but we think we were running out of air. That was spooky," he said.
They didn't just get stuck -- the Higgins became prisoners in their SUV, trapped and eventually buried under four feet of snow with no way out in what seemed like the middle of nowhere.
"By eight o'clock that night the snow was above the roof of the vehicle. I opened the window and I couldn't even push the snow out of the way," Higgins told us.
But the family of three was well stocked with supplies. For almost two days, the Higgins would survive on sandwiches and bottled water and when nature called, they improvised.
"When you had to go, you went, you know; you used the water bottles," said Higgins.
Now encased in what Higgins described as a tomb of snow, the Higgins were desperate for someone to find them. They knew it was a race against time.
"We were short of breath and we didn't realize it at the time we were actually running out of air," Higgins said.
Higgins was able to reach his brother in Texas by cellphone and let him know the family's general location. The distress call was relayed to state police, which launched a search for the family Tuesday evening.
The National Guard was called out, along with state transportation workers. State highway trucks with plows and rescuers in four-wheel-drive vehicles pushed through heavy snow and drifts as high as 10 feet as teams probed the snow looking for the family's SUV.
One of the rescuers hit the hood, and the digging started.
Nearly 40 hours after their ordeal began, help finally arrived. A team of rescuers dug their way down and pulled the Higgins to safety.
"It was straight out of the window; it was out the window and up like out of rabbit hole," said Higgins.
The Higginses were among 32 vehicles state police and guardsmen rescued from the storm, but they were the only ones who police say needed medical attention.
"Tired and whooped" is how Higgins described his family after their ordeal.
Back in Houston, Yvonne Higgins' mother was relieved to hear they'd been saved.
"God answered our prayer. He answered prayer and I am just so grateful. I'm so grateful," said Marie Holmes.
Playing games on their cellphones and watching movies on his daughter's travel DVD player helped pass the time, but Higgins admits the thought of not making it out alive started to cross his mind after a day of being buried.
"We didn't realize how deep the snow was," he said.
Higgins had a simple message for travelers this winter: Throw a case of water and a sleeping bag in the car.
"It will be there if you need it," he said. "I could see if we weren't half as prepared as we were, it could have been a worse outcome."
Yvonne Higgins is recovering in the hospital. Her husband and daughter were released. They hope to make it home to the Houston area as soon as they can, perhaps in time for Christmas.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
(Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A woman had to be rescued after crashing her car near downtown overnight.
It happened around 2:45am on the Southwest Freeway near Gray. Crews shut down the freeway as they worked to clear the mess.
Police say the woman lost control of her car and smashed into a metal guard rail. Crews had to remove the doors of the car to get her out. She went to the hospital listed in stable condition.
(Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) HOUSTON (KTRK) -- At least one person was injured in a crash on Interstate 10 at Gessner on Saturday morning.
It happened around 4am at the intersection of the I-10 feeder road and Gessner.
Emergency responders found a two-vehicle collision with a trapped driver in one of the vehicles.
Firefighters worked to free the man. He was rushed to a nearby hospital in unknown condition.
There was no word on fault or injuries.
(Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) DEMOND FERNANDEZGALVESTON, TX (KTRK) -- On undeniably hot days, the Gulf seems refreshing and inviting. But for the second time in two weeks, a trip to the beach has ended in tragedy. Investigators say about 80 percent of the drowning that occurs out there are because of rip currents, but they say it wasn't the case with the tragedy that happened Thursday when the water was calm. For several hours, swimmers on Galveston Beach watched emergency workers search for the body of a man who drowned. "Wow it's happened again," witness Mack Guidry said. This time, the victim is Sugar Land resident and 21-year-old Faiz Almoni, the third person to drown there this season. "We saw the group out there swimming. There were two groups just sitting there diving back and forth," Guidry said. Almoni was in the water off the Seawall near 45th Street with three high school friends from the Houston area. Investigators say they were about 35 yards from the shore, which is a little far out but still within the legal swimming limits. "None of them were good swimmers. A couple of them said they couldn't swim and they were out pretty far," said Peter Davis with Galveston Island Beach Patrol. Witnesses say Almoni and his friends were chest and neck deep in water when something went wrong. "They had two of them out there waving and one a little farther out there swimming, trying to look for him," Guidry said. A lifeguard and a bystander rushed to rescue three women. Almoni went under water. "We think probably they stepped off a sand bar into a deeper area. There was some panic and climbing on top of each other," Davis said. Almoni's family gathered at the shore, waiting and watching the recovery efforts. But as of late Thursday night, emergency crews hadn't been able to locate the man's body. Investigators say they will be checking the shoreline for the man's body throughout the night, and they'll continue the recovery efforts Friday morning. (Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local » HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Authorities are working to rescue horses trapped when their trailer overturned in southeast Houston. The horse trailer flipped on its side in the northbound lanes of the Gulf Freeway at the South Loop. At least two horses appeared to be inside. They both appear to be unhurt after rescue workers helped them out of the trailer. There's no word on what caused the accident.
No other details were immediately available. (Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »Ashley added that the woman is not a Port Authority employee.
(Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)The Houston Fire Department used a crane to lower a firefighter down the shaft to assist the worker out. The ladder had to be cut and the man was lifted out after nearly an hour.
,p> The man is said to have suffered several broken bones, but he was conscious throughout the rescue. He was taken by Life Flight to an area hospital. His condition is unknown. (Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)