2011-04-16

Crews rescue three from floodwaters

MOUNT JACKSON, VA – Emergency crews in Shenandoah County performed three successful water rescues over the weekend.

First rescue
In the first rescue, responders saved a woman from the roof of her vehicle in the midst of a raging Mill Creek Saturday evening.

When rescuers responded to the 6:28 p.m. call to Garber Road, near its intersection with Orkney Grade in Mount Clifton, they found a female sitting on top of her vehicle in very swift-moving water. The water continued to rise while the rescue workers worked to bring her to safety.

The female was out of the water by 8:18 p.m. She was taken to Shenandoah Memorial Hospital, showing signs of hypothermia.



Second rescue
The second call for help came at 11:50 p.m. on Saturday, with a woman in her car being swept away by floodwaters of the Shenandoah River’s North Fork, just east of Mount Jackson near Red Banks Road and Massanutten Park.

While dispatchers talked to the woman, officers from Mount Jackson Police Department and Virginia State Police were able to spot the vehicle. Fire and rescue crews put two boats from Strasburg Fire Department into the water near the Mount Jackson wastewater treatment plant as waters continued to rise around the car.

When the first boat reached the vehicle, rescuers quickly helped the woman onto the boat, and made a quick trip to the shore. She was in an ambulance by 12:40 a.m. on Sunday, and she was also taken to Shenandoah Memorial Hospital.


Third rescue
While emergency workers were still trying to reach the scene of the second rescue on Red Banks Road, a third call for help came to dispatchers at 11:56 p.m. on Saturday.

This time, responders found a partially submerged car that had been swept off of Quicksburg Road, just west of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River. They were eventually able to see that the car was empty, and they began to search for the car’s occupant.

As searchers looked for the occupant, they heard cries for help about 300 or 400 yards downstream of the car. They eventually made contact with a male in a tree in the river. After more than two hours, they were able to reach him with a boat from Strasburg Fire Department and bring him to a waiting ambulance at about 2:30 a.m. The male was taken to Shenandoah Memorial Hospital, showing signs of hypothermia.


“Our responders did a great job tonight,” said John Collins, public information officer for Shenandoah County Department of Fire and Rescue. “They put themselves in harm’s way to save three lives.”

“We don’t often get calls like this, so to have three in one night and to have all three end well is a testament to the fire and rescue system in the county,” Collins said. “Everyone worked together, from the dispatchers to those on the scene.”

Responding to the three calls were more than 40 emergency personnel, mostly from volunteer fire and rescue agencies. They came from Mount Jackson Rescue and Fire Company, Orkney Springs Fire and Rescue, Edinburg Volunteer Fire Company, Strasburg Fire Department, New Market Fire and Rescue, Timberville Volunteer Fire Department, Broadway Emergency Squad, Virginia State Police, Mount Jackson Police Department, New Market Police Department, Shenandoah County Sheriff’s Office, and Shenandoah County Department of Fire and Rescue.

Evacuations
Fire and rescue personnel also assisted with the evacuation of 11 people from Creekside Campground in Edinburg on Saturday, and four people from a house on Stagecoach Road east of Woodstock on Sunday morning.