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HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Gallery Furniture unveiled a brand-new high-water rescue truck Thursday, designed to help Houstonians in the event of severe weather and flooding.
Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale, owner of Gallery Furniture, was surprised with the completed truck, which is decorated with the furniture store’s logo and a cartoon of his face.
The side of the truck also appropriately reads, “Mattress Mack has got your back.”
“We’re excited to have this high-water rescue truck so if we have any other problems in Houston, we can go rescue people and bring them to Gallery Furniture,” Mack said about the new addition to his business. “Because our commitment, we have to have a responsibility for the wellbeing of the community, and this truck will help us fulfill that commitment.”
The truck can safely navigate through 55 inches of water. It’s also equipped with air conditioning, heat and a hydraulic lift gate.
“I don’t know if I’m man enough to drive it, but someone can drive it and I’ll sit there and ride in the back with all the folks,” Mack laughed.
Mack has famously opened Gallery Furniture’s doors as shelter for Houstonians during natural disasters in the past, including 2017’s Hurricane Harvey and the winter storm earlier this year.
“Being a local company, he’s a hometown hero of ours,” said General Truck Body Manufacturing Company representative Beau Evans. “It was a real honor to get to work with the whole team and to be able to provide a piece of equipment to the Gallery Furniture team and Mack to help them promote more and more good things for the city during these natural disasters.”
The truck arrived just in time for the Atlantic hurricane season, which began on June 1.