Pizza Hut workers paddle through Harvey floodwaters to deliver free pies

HOUSTON (CBS) Pizza Hut workers in Texas traded in delivery cars for kayaks on Tuesday, paddling their way across floodwaters to deliver hot pies to Harvey victims.

As soon as Shayda Habib, the general manager of a Sugar Land Pizza Hut, heard people in the Village of Oak Lake neighborhood were were trapped inside their flooded homes and low on food, she took action.

She told employees to get cooking, as she plotted a way to get the pizzas to nearby hungry customers in need. Luckily, she knew just who turn to.

“When I heard there were families in need, I knew we needed to act fast,” Habib told CBS affiliate KENS-5. “I called my husband and asked him to gather up kayaks and meet me at the restaurant.”

Employees boxed up 120 pizzas, packed them into hot delivery pouches and loaded up kayaks. Habib and a team of six headed to a nearby neighborhood in search of hungry residents.

They went door to door, traveling in water that was — in some parts — chest deep to offer free pizza.

“The people in the houses didn’t expect us to come,” Habib told the Houston Chronicle. “It was so nice to see their smiles after so much gloom.”

Habib posted photos from her team’s unexpected expedition on Tuesday.

“Sorry we couldn’t do more,” she wrote.

The general manager said she planned to keep making trips to nearby neighborhoods this week — at least, until the restaurant runs out of ingredients.

THANK YOU to our Oak Lake Pizza Hut team for their out-of-the-car response to deliver hot pizzas all day to the community they serve. pic.twitter.com/Xmkv9XhrKw

— Pizza Hut (@pizzahut) August 30, 2017

Pizza Hut thanked Habib for her kind gesture on Wednesday, as the area continues to recover from devastating floods.

“Thank you to our Oak Lake Pizza Hut team for their out-of-the-car response to deliver hot pizzas all day to the community they serve,” Pizza Hut tweeted on Wednesday.

“We are so proud of the team for seeing a need, stepping up and helping the community in a time of devastation,” a Pizza Hut spokesman told CBS News.