South Carolina pastor braves flood to retrieve casket

Historic rainfall in South Carolina this weekend uprooted trees, flooded roads and even caused caskets to get swept away in the floodwaters.

But one brave pastor waded through the waters to save a casket for a grieving family after waters around the cemetery pushed the baskets of the deceased wife and husband to float away.

In a dramatic scene, WCBD cameras caught the pastor walking through the trenches of a Ridgeville cemetery to retrieve the casket during a live broadcast.

Wayne Reeves, a pastor from New Life Ministries in Summerville, rescued the sarcophagus of a woman who died back in May.

"Why are you going in to get it?" a reporter asked the pastor.

%shareLinks-quote="That's somebody's family out there. This family is suffering. They had their family out there popping up out of the ground and I think it's the human thing to do." type="quote" author="Wayne Reeves" authordesc="Pastor, New Life Ministries" isquoteoftheday="false"%

The pastor then waded more than 200 yards to the casket. With the help of another bystander, Reeves was able to push the wooden box out of the waters and toward the side of the highway.

Reeves explained how painful it would be for a grieving family to sit on the side of the road to see their deceased family members bobbing in and out of the water.

%shareLinks-quote="If that was my mama or my dad, I would walk through hell or high water...and today it happened to be high water." type="quote" author="Wayne Reeves" authordesc="Pastor, New Life Ministries" isquoteoftheday="false"%

Family members of the casket Reeves retrieved told WCBD they were feeling both relief and disbelief by the church leader's kind act.

The cousin of the deceased said it was an incredible act of faith to witness:

Reverend Reeves explained his decision by simply stating:

%shareLinks-quote="They're already hurt enough and I don't want them to hurt anymore" type="quote" author="Wayne Reeves" authordesc="Pastor, New Life Ministries" isquoteoftheday="false"%

Reeves wasn't the only hero that day. Officers from Dorchester County soon rescued a second vault from the scene. The family said both coffins belonged to a deceased married couple.

Family members of the deceased told WCBD that the county coroner removed both vaults from the water and will hold them in a safe place until the floods diminish. Once the waters diminish, authorities will lay the couple to rest in their original spots.

See more photos of the flooding in South Carolina:

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