No one was injured during an early-morning high-water rescue in Haltom City, but emergency officials said the operation was hampered by drivers in pickups and vans who ignored rescuers' gestures and shouts.
About 6:30 a.m., Haltom City shut down one side of the crossing over Fossil Creek, where Fred Napp, deputy fire chief and fire marshal, said high-water problems are common. But officials were unable to immediately block the other side of the rescue site in the 5900 block of Glenview Drive.As rescuers put a life preserver on a stranded motorist and began to walk him out of the rain-swollen Fossil Creek, “we were having to watch for these drivers coming through and dealing with the wakes they were causing,” Napp said. “We’d wave and try to stop them, and they’d just stare at us like we were crazy.”About 10 minutes after rescuers arrived, North Richland Hills workers were able to barricade the other side of Glenview, Napp said.Even before they were finished there, the rescuers were called to another Fossil Creek crossing, Napp said.“While we were there, we were dispatched to a second incident on Minnis Drive just south of Airport Freeway,” he said. “It was where Fossil Creek got out of its banks again. There were three vehicles involved.”Two cars were almost submerged and another was stranded on a high spot of Minnis Drive, Napp said.“One of the drivers had walked out himself,” he said. “Another was still in the driver’s seat, though the water was up in the passenger compartment.”A swift-water rescue team used its boat to reach the driver in the partially submerged car, Napp said. Richland Hills Fire Department rescuers helped the driver who was stranded on an island of pavement.“Swift water is one of the most hazardous conditions you can put rescuers into,” he said. “You can get hypothermia in 50-degree water pretty fast. We had people upstream to warn us of anything floating down that could hit us.”Napp said that Fossil Creek looked more like a river Wednesday morning.“The channel got to between 40 and 50 feet deep where they’ve done some flood-control work,” he said. “It was all the way up to the rim of the channel and above where we were.”Glenview Drive over Fossil Creek is the No. 1 spot for flooding in Haltom City, Napp said.“We’ve got to get the message out to people not to drive through high water,” he said.Napp said Minnis Drive and Glenview might already be reopened.“When it stops raining, water goes down pretty quickly,” he said.Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
