Hurricane Harvey victims, rescuers use Facebook Live to help spread the word

A non-stop stream of Facebook Live videos Monday showed the scene in southeastern Texas as Hurricane Harvey continued to inundate the coast with rainfall as a fierce tropical storm.

LaShavia West was trapped in her apartment with her kids and neighbors. She took to Facebook Live to ask for help.

"Alright, y'all, I need everybody's participation in this," West began her video. "Because y'all see this water behind me? I'm on the second floor."

West said her downstairs neighbors had to come upstairs as the water continued to rise on Monday.

"We been calling everybody, but unfortunately nobody has, you know, got here yet," she said. "I know everybody's working hard, don't get me wrong, but I need everybody to share this, share this, share this, so they can see where we're at."

Fawn Crossland posted a similar video — but she was perched on her roof.

"The helicopters came, the helicopters went," she said. "They saw us. We are not in a mandatory flood evacuation area. We are about a mile and a half, two miles north."

"So we were told the Coast Guard would only pick us up if we called," Crossland continued. "We have called; the line was busy."

She said the subdivision was filled with families trapped in their homes.

"There are numerous families — such as that one right there who also have a baby — so lots of young children," she says. "So hopefully we'll get some help soon."

Logan Ray Diaz captioned his Facebook Live video, "Still waiting, they forgot about us prob(ably)."

His home was also flooded, and while a semi-truck load of rescued individuals could be seen making their way by in the video, Diaz and his family continued to wait for a rescue.

But rescues were happening all over — and also being posted as live videos.

Tanner Jones posted a rescue of a woman and her dog via kayak.

"How fast did the water come up?" someone asked the woman.

"Like in an hour," she responded. "I woke up this morning and there was a little bit in the garage and nothing in the house."

"I went back to lay down and I was scrolling social media, and all of a sudden I've got (water) down," she continued.

Kayaks, boats, semi trucks, SUVs, all-terrain vehicles and even air mattresses were being used in the water rescues captured on Facebook Live.

Harvey had brought more than 30 inches of rain to the Houston area by Monday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.

This story was originally published August 28, 2017 at 5:44 PM with the headline "Hurricane Harvey victims, rescuers use Facebook Live to help spread the word."