This is the moment a distressed woman is filmed trapped inside her car in heavy flood waters.
She was later reportedly rescued by brave locals and cops who managed to bring her to safety.
Cibelle Freitas, 32, had a big scare when she got trapped in her vehicle during flash flooding on Tereza Cristina Avenue in the city of Contagem in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais.
The personal trainer told the news portal G1 of the terrifying event on the night of Monday, 1st November: “It all happened very quickly”.
Cibelle can be seen in the video footage captured by local residents that shows her hanging out of her car window and clinging onto the roof as high, murky waters rush past her.
She told G1 the morning after the event: “My GPS told me to drive down Tereza Cristina, but all of a sudden, water started to fill the car and I went to the window.
“I had one leg inside the car and the other outside. It was at that point that two locals started to help me.”
She added: “They sent over ropes, but it didn’t work. They then sent over a hose. I then made a big effort to tie a knot, I took a leap and I didn’t see anything else.”
Cibelle said that when she came to, she was already on the pavement. She told G1 she asked the locals “did I make it?” to which they replied “you made it”.
She was taken by law enforcement officers to A&E, where she was checked up and given the all-clear before being swiftly discharged.
She subsequently took to social media to express her wish to be reunited with the good samaritans who rescued her so she can thank them.
One of her rescuers has been named in local media as small business owner Elismar Correia, who said he and a neighbour helped the woman to safety.
He told G1: “We asked her to remain calm. We then had the idea of throwing the rope to her, which she managed to hold onto tight. She was in good physical nick. I think that helped, too.
“By my calculations, she had remained trapped in the car in the flood for more or less an hour before we managed to rescue her.”
He added: “As we’ve got a son, we were very scared. My wife, nephews and my son were crying, with everyone thinking I was going to die, and I was scared, too.”
Local media reported that when officers from the Municipal Guard arrived on the scene, the flooding was so bad that their vehicle got swept away.
The officers helped the locals to save the woman, but they then needed to be assisted by other locals themselves after the rapidly rising flood waters threatened to sweep them away.
Officer Jose Alves Pereira Junior said: “The only escape we had was to abandon the vehicle and then enter the residence of a guy who opened his doors for us and ended up saving our lives.”
