Grandmother Trapped on Hood of Van in Flood Waters, Bystanders & Cops Unite To Save Her
As storms continue to pound Pennsylvania Monday, flood waters are rising to levels of almost 5 feet in some areas. For one grandmother, this posed a significant risk as she took to her van hood for safety — that is, until a group of local heroes came to her rescue.
The grandmother was trapped on the hood of her vehicle in flooding water that had almost engulfed it, according to WPVI.
Bystanders looked on, including her grandchildren, fearing for the woman’s life.
Knowing they had to act quickly, two of the bystanders and three Upper Darby police officers sprang into action to rescue the grandmother.
Dairius Shanks was one of the bystanders who rushed into the flood waters to save the women.
“I saw kids,” Shanks told WPVI. “The kids needed help. Me and another pedestrian just helped the girls get out of the car; it was one of my neighbors that came out with the sheets.”
As the grandmother’s 10-year-old granddaughter looked on, she yelled to the rescuers, “She can’t swim.”
Other bystanders were heard rooting for the grandmother’s safety. One woman was heard saying, “Come on, Grandma! You can do it!”
Because of the surging force of the raging waters, rescuers had to act quickly.
“Nobody had any rope on them, and the fire department was at another location, so we had no other way,” Upper Darby Police Lt. Stephen Oreskovich told WPVI. “The floodwaters were rising out of the car, so we had to get the lady out of the car.”
The grandmother wasn’t the only one trapped because of the flood waters, as only three blocks away another Good Samaritan was rescuing people trapped in their cars.
As Travis Hall worked to free people from their vehicles in the flooding water, he soon needed help himself.
“The sewer inlet must have collapsed, and the swirling water took Hall and cut his legs out from under him, and he started to go down into the sewer outlet,” Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood told WPVI.
The police department reported no injuries from the rescue efforts.
The Commonwealth Response Coordination Center has been activated by Gov. Tom Wolf in response to the heavy rains and flooding and the National Guard is ready in the event they are needed to rescue victims of the flooding.
But with heroes like the police and citizens of Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, it’s less likely they’ll be needed.
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