RIDGELAND, MS (Mississippi News Now) -
A Hinds County assistant district attorney was a hero on the Ross Barnett Reservoir last Wednesday when severe weather move through the Jackson metro area. Jamie McBride saw three people in trouble when the catamaran sail boat they were in overturned in the middle of the reservoir.
A lightning bolt hit WLBT as the same storm came across Jackson. The late afternoon thunderstorm produced winds of up to 47 miles per hour at the reservoir, kicking up four foot waves overturning a catamaran sail boat.
Jamie McBride and a friend, Will Vanlandingham, were watching it all from the deck of the Jackson Yacht Club. When they saw the boat owned by Sean Raider, with two of his friends, had overturned in the wind and they couldn't get it back up, they went into action in spite of the weather.
"Once they flipped over they were just like a sail blowing across the lake. I think the waves were probably three and a half to four feet," said McBride. "The wind blowing that strong, you know I would be lying if I didn't tell you it's dangerous for us to have gone out and gotten them, but they needed assistance and we wanted to render that and be sure they were ok. "
The commodore of the Jackson Yacht Club, Gary Rogers, was happy to watch the rescue, even though the yacht club is not in the rescue business.
"We took a calculated risk. We knew when we sent our rescuers out there, we were putting them in danger, perhaps in as much danger as the ones they were to rescue. And so it's really gratifying it turned out the way it did. And we are pleased but it's not something we want to see us having to do, really, ever again," said Rogers.
Copyright 2012 WLBT. All rights reserved.
WLBT 3 - Fox 40
