By Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times
Between snow melt and rain storms, Kentucky’s rivers, creeks, and streams are straining their banks, and sometimes spilling over them. Governor Andy Beshear on Monday morning updated the confirmed death toll during the most recent severe weather events to 11; with nine floodwater related deaths in Clay (1), Hart (2), Pike (3), Washington (1), Hardin (1), and Floyd Counties (1), in addition to a pair of weather related motor vehicle deaths in Hart and Nelson Counties.
Locally, there have been several calls related to high water, including stranded cars and folks trapped in their homes – but luckily no deaths or serious injuries.
Kyle Morgan, with the Grayson Fire Department, explained that many of the calls they go out on related to water occur at night, when people drive into standing water on the roadway, either because they underestimate the depth of the water or because they just can’t see it. In those instances where people without modified vehicles try to cross this standing water, Morgan explained, their vehicle will stall out, leaving them stranded.
“Usually, whenever it’s daylight hours, we typically don’t have as many calls, because people can see what they are doing. They can see if roads are flooded. They can see how deep the water may be before they drive in it.”
Morgan also advised folks to take common sense measures when driving, regardless of the time of day. This includes taking alternate routes if you know there is a low lying area along a road where water tends to accumulate. For instance, he noted that, “on 1910, off East Midland Trail (standing water during storms) is pretty typical. It’s about every time we have a flood, somebody tries to drive through it there, and they’ll just drown their car out.”
He said there isn’t any danger of the cars really being swept away by flowing water there, so that might make some folks overconfident about getting through it.
“That water is standing water; it’s not really moving water. It just where it backs up, and they try to drive through it in cars, and it’ll end up stalling the motor our and then there they sit.”
This, he said, can lead to a dilemma. Should they get out and walk away? Or should they call for help?
“Then the unknown sets in, of, ‘Do I get out?’ or, ‘What do I do?’ Because now I’m stuck in water.”
With the cold weather, the prospect of getting into the water is not only daunting, it can be dangerous. But, in most cases, that’s probably what’s going to end up happening.
“Typically – we’ve had to go get people out there four or five times – and typically it’s just been basically walk up to the car, give them a PFD (personal flotation device) to walk beside them, and you can usually walk them out. It’s usually no more than waist deep there.”
With the cold weather, though, it’s safer to have emergency response there with you when you exit the water than it is to try it on your own.
Another area where water can accumulate like that and cause issues is on the Dameron Branch side of 773, he noted.
But while those kinds of situations can be avoided by turning around instead of driving through standing water, others cannot. For instance, when flood waters rise and surround a home overnight.
That was the situation when the Grayson department was dispatched recently to help with someone stranded in their camper near Rush.
“What we had the other night was, 3:30 in the morning, people were asleep, and they went to bed knowing the water was high,” he explained. “But they didn’t realize it was going to come up as fast as what it did.”
“The very first call we had,” he continued, “was 3:30 that morning, over in Rush, was a gentleman that was stuck in his camper.”
In that case, he said, it was a matter of determining the best route to and from the camper, to get the resident out safely before the water rose any higher.
“You’re just trying to get to people, trying to make sure we’re taking the safest route. You don’t want to put people in harm’s way. So, you always want to look to see what your best options are.”
In this instance, he said, though they had rubber rafts with them, they ended up walking the individual out. Firefighters Jason Gillum and Chase Felty, he said, braved the freezing temperatures to get to the camper. Then they put the resident in a life jacket and – though they did briefly have to enter the water, they walked him to a nearby hillside and brought him around the side of the hill instead of keeping him in the water. While Gillum walked the resident around the hill, Felty had to continue in the water to bring back the rubber raft they’d brought in case they needed to use it.
While the raft wasn’t necessary during this outing, and it was quicker for the rescuers and the resident to walk around the hill than to travel down the creek more than a mile to the next pull-out point, it’s one of the many tools in the fire department’s tool kit for these water rescues.
“Over in Rush, the way the creek lays, we weren’t able to put in a boat with a motor… so you had to make it something that you could pack also,” he explained. “We probably spent more time and effort trying to get to him, and get back, than what we actually spent getting him out, because of how close you could actually get to it.”
But, he said, even if they didn’t end up needing it this time, the rubber raft – like other tools in their toolkit – is always important to have available.
“It’s just part of always being prepared, and having everything that you’re going to need to go with you the first time, instead of having to come back.”
Because, when waters are rising swiftly, and temperature plummeting just as quickly, every moment is precious.
Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com
