(MITCHELL) – No matter how many warns officials issues, people continue to think they can defy the treacherous force of water.
More deaths occur each year due to flooding than any other thunderstorm-related hazard, according to the National Weather Service. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that more than half of all flood-related drownings occur when a vehicle is driven into hazardous flood waters.
Monday night, Marion Township Volunteer Fire Department, deputies from the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department and an AMR ambulance crew responded to a car in the water with two people trapped inside on Lawrenceport Road near bridge 67.
Both men were extricated from the flood water by fire dept personnel.
Fire Chief Paul Gillespie says it’s easy to underestimate the force and power of water.
“A mere six inches of fast-moving flood water is enough to knock over a full-grown adult and that just one foot of rushing water can carry away a small car. Two feet of rushing water is forceful enough to float away almost any SUV or pickup truck,” he added.
Whether you’re running late to work, you need to pick up your kids from school, or maybe a detour would take you miles out of the way, the dangers far outweigh the potential benefits of driving through a flooded roadway.
