Driver pulled from flooded creek

<h3>Man says he waded into rushing waters to save woman clinging to a pecan tree</h3>

<b>By Christin Coyne</b><br><a href="mailto:ccoyne@mineralwellsindex.com">ccoyne@mineralwellsindex.com</a>

The saturated ground and 2.91 inches of rain recorded Wednesday at the Mineral Wells Municipal Airport resulted in flash flooding that reportedly caused two cars to be swept off the road because of high water.

Randy West, a homeowner in the 800 block of Salesville Road, said he rescued an 18-year-old woman from the middle of a raging creek after he watched her car be swept off the road near his house.

“It was so strange that I happened to be standing outside,” West said. “And there’s nothing else close.”

He and his family live on a hill between Turkey Creek and a tributary creek that cross the road on either side of his property. When the creeks get high enough, West is housebound.

The creek was the second highest he’s seen it, according to West, who has owned the property for about six years.

West said he woke up around 11 p.m. Wednesday night and went outside to smoke.

Watching from his porch, about 100 yards from where the north creek flowed across the road, he said he was thinking he would be bringing his children to school late because of the flooding when he saw the lights of a southbound Chevrolet Malibu approaching the creek,

The water was estimated to be flowing about 2.5 feet high over the road at the time.

“I saw the headlights disappear under the water,” West remembered.

He grabbed his shoes and jumped into his Jeep, calling his wife on his cellphone to ask her to dial 911 as he drove down to the road and towards a “muffled, distressed voice.”

“I heard her yell about 100 feet to my left so I drove back around [on my property],” West said.

He drove his vehicle as close to the creek as possible looking for her.

“I pointed my headlights … and found her in the middle of the creek,” West said.

West said the creek is about 20 feet wide during the dry season but had spilled its banks and was much wider.

The woman was clinging to a 12-foot pecan tree when West saw her.

The teenager later told him she froze at first when the vehicle was swept down stream and the water reached her chin within seconds, West said. She said she was unable to unlock the door when the electricity failed but several kicks freed her, according to West, and she grabbed the first thing she passed and held on.

West found two 6-foot to 8-foot tie down straps in his vehicle, tied them together and waded into the creek.

He was standing chest deep in rushing water by the time he reached the edge of the creek bank but the woman was still about 12 feet away, West said.

“On the third try she caught [the end of the line],” West said.

She let go of the tree and held on the line with both hands and he had no trouble pulling her in, according to West.

The car washed about 250 feet from Salesville Road and was six feet under water at one point, West said.

Barricades

About the time the vehicle was swept off the road in Salesville, Palo Pinto County Precinct 2 Commissioner Ed Laney said he left for Graford to pick up road barricades to place in front of both creeks on Salesville Road and on Hayes Road and Marsden Road, some of the usual flood-prone places in his district, after receiving a second call from the sheriff’s office about high water.

According to Palo Pinto County Sheriff’s Office records, a caller reported high water at Salesville Road and Rock Creek at 10:23 p.m. and the dispatcher made contact with Laney to advise a need for barricades, who “advised this is nothing new, there are two low water crossings on this road.”

Laney said he requested to be informed if the rising water got worse.

“Turkey Creek, as the old timers say, when three people spit, it gets high,” Laney said.

The crossing has a gauge and area residents know the creek often rises across the road, according to Laney.

“Sometimes we do [put up barricades], sometimes we don’t,” Laney said.

“It’s not required but it’s something as a common courtesy, we try to do,” Laney said. “I wished I’d got there earlier.”

At 11:22 p.m., Randy West’s wife called to report the car and driver in trouble.

According to the call log, the dispatcher again made contact with Laney at 11:39 p.m., who “advised it would be at least an hour before a barricade could be put up.”

In the meantime, the Mineral Wells Volunteer Fire Department and EMS were dispatched to Salesville Road, though West reached the teen before they arrived.

Though the woman lived just down the road on Shawn E. Lane with her parents, “she had to stay the night because we’re between two creeks,” West said.

The Palo Pinto County Sheriff’s Office also received a call around 11:30 p.m. reporting a car had washed off the road at the low water crossing at Oaks Crossing Road.

The caller told the dispatcher everyone was OK but requested that County Commissioner Beth Ray be notified a barricade was needed, according to the call record.

Palo Pinto County Emergency Management Coordinator Barry Gill was reportedly on the scene. He did not return several phone calls from the Index.

A Department of Public Safety spokesperson said a trooper responded to another call around 10 p.m. reporting a wreck at Oaks Crossing Road and U.S. Highway 281 South but found only a vehicle stalled because of high water.

Palo Pinto County Precinct 4 Commissioner Jeff Fryer said a bypass on Village Bend Road washed out but was rebuilt and operational again Thursday morning.

He also placed barricades on New Salem Road near Santo around 4 a.m.

“We had some flooding but not too bad,” Fryer said.

“Don’t drive if you don’t know how deep it is,” MWVFD Chief Steve Perdue said. “If it’s running very swiftly [even if it’s not deep], don’t go anyway.”

Though the water had receded on Marsden and Hayes Road, Laney said the barricades were still up Thursday afternoon on Salesville Road.

“A lot of these low water crossings have been around a long time,” Laney said, adding that people should know to be cautious when approaching water running over the road.

“It only takes 24 inches of water to float a car,” Laney said.

“I’m just as guilty as anyone of crossing water I probably shouldn’t,” West said. “Never again … I could have just as easily been a victim of the same thing”

According to West, people should heed the words of the old slogan the teen’s mother repeated when she saw her daughter the next morning “Stop, turn around, don’t drown.”

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