North Carolina Fire Department And Swiftwater Rescue Team Rescue Woman Stranded in Flood

Sept. 30, 2004
The aftermath of Hurricane Jeanne was still causing trouble and wringing out Cabarrus County Wednesday, even hours after water had retreated from most bridges, roads and homes.

The aftermath of Hurricane Jeanne was still causing trouble and wringing out Cabarrus County Wednesday, even hours after water had retreated from most bridges, roads and homes.

Flooded-out Harrisburg families were trying to put their lives back together. And a woman who drove around a barricade on a flooded road in eastern Cabarrus County early Wednesday soon found her car spun around and sinking.

Just before 6 a.m., a woman county authorities identified as Kay Nelson was driving her compact car on Mount Pleasant Road South when she noticed the water had receded from the bridge over Rocky River, said David Montague, safety officer for Cabarrus County.

Despite barricades and signs that warned of high water, she kept going, Montague said.

In the darkness before dawn, she couldn't see that although the water had gone down from the bridge, the road on the other side was still submerged.

"Her car entered the water, traveled about 75 to 100 feet in the water, and she became stranded," Montague said.

The car spun around and ended up facing back in the direction she had come from.

Then, the water was up to the driver's window.

She had a cell phone and was nearly screaming when she called 911, Montague said.

She talked with the 911 communicator, a Cabarrus County sheriff's deputy, who tried to keep her calm until rescuers got to her.

The Georgeville Volunteer Fire Department and the Midland Swiftwater Rescue Team responded, aided by the Cabarrus Rescue Squad and the Mount Pleasant Volunteer Fire Department.

The swiftwater team has members from the Midland, Georgeville, Allen and Flowe Store volunteer fire departments.

Six men took an inflatable rescue raft out to Nelson's car and brought her back. The rescue effort took about 30 minutes, said Montague, who was at the scene and also is a member of the Georgeville fire department.

"It was very fortunate it was an area that didn't have a lot of current, so the car was not swept away," he said.

Nelson was not injured. After her car was towed away, a friend picked her up.

Efforts to reach her Wednesday were unsuccessful.

"When people do these things, go around these barricades, not only do they put themselves in danger, but anybody who responds to the call or has to go into the water to rescue them," Montague said.

"It takes as little as six inches of moving water to sweep away an automobile," he said. "Do not cross the barricades. Not only is it dangerous, it is illegal."

Rescue teams performed several rescues in Cabarrus County this week, including one of a man and his son who had lost their boat and were clinging to a tree along the Rocky River near Harrisburg and a family caught by floodwaters in their home on Stallings Road.

The aftermath of the hurricane interrupted the lives of several families in Harrisburg's Middleton neighborhood.

Nancy Hall, 39, and her husband, Ken, 41, survived Hurricane Danny seven years ago and were in disbelief when Hurricane Jeanne hit.

"I jumped out of bed and I pulled my blinds up. This creek was roaring at my bedroom window," she said. A neighbor had called her at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday to warn her.

Back Creek swept away the Halls' lawn furniture and left behind mucky tree limbs and branches in their back yard. Then the water lapped around the front of the house and into the garage.

"We had to take everything out of the garage," Nancy Hall said while taking a break from moving drawers and chairs to safer ground and answering phone calls.

The Halls borrowed a dump truck and, with the help of friends, spent Wednesday clearing out drenched wall insulation, a ruined water heater and damaged antique furniture.

David Baxter, a county public information officer, estimated damage to 10 Harrisburg homes at $100,000 and said that figure could go higher.

Nancy Hall estimated damages at $10,000, but said her family was lucky.

After Hurricane Danny in 1997, three of the Halls' cars were totaled from water damage, Nancy Hall said, and the insulation under their home and in the garage was gutted, Hall said.

"I feel blessed," she said of this week's storm. "It didn't do as much damage as it could have. ... We saw what the water did last time, and we knew it could have been worse."

Charlotte Rainfall

Here are rain totals as of Sept. 29:

  • Total this year 37.55 inches
  • Last year on this date 57.96
  • Average for this date 33.19

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