LAKE PLEASANT, AZ — A married couple and their guest escaped a boat that capsized during a monsoon storm on Sunday, and now they want to thank the strangers who came to their aid.
The moment the boat tipped over was caught on camera, Tom Allen's boat was hit by a strong burst of wind when he was still on board.
"It was just mass chaos. I wanted to unload my passengers, get them to safety. But there's no way we could get to the dock even though it was 20, 30 yards away,” said Tom.
Tom and his wife Lisa have enjoyed Lake Pleasant ever since they moved to the Valley in February. They tell ABC15 they are hyper-vigilant about boating safety, and despite a monsoon storm approaching, they figured they had enough time for a quick ride on the water.
"We went into the marina, and we were thinking the break wall would suffice. But it hit hard right when we were in the marina. I coin it biblical,” said Lisa.
And biblical it was, in the player above you can see how chaotic it got: boaters and jet skiers scrambled to exit the lake much of their equipment piling against the shore.
Unable to get their own boat out, Lisa and two other guests onboard decided to jump out and swim. Tom decided to stay, thinking he could still save things. The boat, however, soon capsized.
“I was underneath the boat. And at that point, I knew that when I started swimming, most likely I probably would have hit my head coming up and I thought to myself, that's OK, just remain calm and just try to keep swimming to get away from it. When I did pop up, I was amazed I was clear,” said Tom.
As Tom hung onto the back of his boat, strangers on shore rushed to help his wife and guests, plucking them out of the water using poles and a nearby dock.
"They're everyday Americans, right? They're just people on their boats. They came out and like Tom said, they're phenomenal… so big credit to them because one of the guys hoisted me on the dock and they tied the boat up for Tom,” said Lisa.
The Allens recovered their boat and most of their belongings, minus lost phones and a wallet. They thank God for the people that day.
"Yeah, just thank you to everybody out there, even in the recovery,” said Allen.
