Man Rescued from Flood Waters in Shelby County

The weekend rains led to a rescue of a motorist from flood waters in Shelby County Sunday morning.

A man who owns farm ground near the scene summoned Shelby County authorities to the scene sometime after 10am. The man had spotted a car facing south at what is known as the "iron bridge" on Shelby County Highway 40. Later, the man saw the car was now facing north, leading him to contact authorities.

The Shelby County Dive Rescue Team was dispatched, along with the Tri-County Fire Protection District Fire Department. The dive team approached from the north while the fire department arrived from the south.

Shelby County Dive Team Commander Austin Pritchard said he deployed two divers to walk out into the flood waters far enough to make contact with a man who was inside the car. The rising waters were from two creeks that join just east of the iron bridge, which is why the waterway was so forceful and deep at that location. The flood waters were up on both sides of the iron bridge. The driver of the car, who is from the state of Kansas, made it through one waterway, but once over the bridge, decided he shouldn't risk driving through the other creek and stopped by the bridge.

Once the first two divers established that was someone inside the car, two other divers were deployed in an inflatable boat and rescued the man and his dog and took them to safety. 

Pritchard said no one was injured and said the owner of the car was taken to a place of safety. He planned to wait until the waters had receded today before going to recover the car.