After the major flooding of late March and early April, the Houston County Sheriff's office decided they needed better training for flooding rescues.

The Houston County Sheriff's Office dive team has joined up with numerous agencies in the area to put this team together. They are sacrificing their time and even some personal money, to better serve the Wiregrass in flooding situations.

"You start talking about a gallon of water weighing eight pounds, and you talk about 200,000 gallons of water moving in one direction that's a tremendous amount of weigh, and when that weight is moving, everything in its way gets destroyed," said instructor David Owens of Dive Rescue International.

It only takes two inches of water to knock a person off their feet and two feet of water to float a car.

Since the Wiregrass flooding, the Houston County Sheriff's office took the initiative to find funding and train 10 divers in swift water rescue.

Chief Paul Grimes of the Houston County Dive Rescue Team said, "The sheriff's department and Houston County rescue were working together as a team. We needed to do something about this to equip ourselves, to be able to better handle this with some techniques and with some training from the proper instructors."

They turned to Senator Harri Anne Smith, who was able to provide the team with enough money to train six divers, but the sheriff's department believed with some personal sacrifices, they could train even more.

"Our guys are dedicated, we wanted to make this event possible for everybody." said Grimes. "We took the $4,800 that we were given, put ten people in the class, then took money out of our own pockets to buy the gear that we have."

During training the divers learn that it's not just about saving the victim.

According to Owens, "it's really their safety is the number one priority, teaching them techniques to keep them safe while they're being effective to rescue a victim."

For both the rescuer and the victim, staying calm in a scary situation can make the difference in staying alive or drowning.

These divers take pride in their work and will continuously practice their swift water rescue techniques so the next time flooding rains come, everyone stays afloat.

Many other sheriffs’ agencies also participated today, such as Covington County, Dale County, and even as far as Brevard County, Florida.

On Friday the divers will be out learning how to maneuver their boats for swift water rescue.