When electric motor wasn't up to job, rescuers rowed to flooded home
Scene of the rescue By KVAL NewsBROOKINGS, Ore. - Two state troopers and a neighbor with a boat braved the rapidly rising Chetco River to rescue an elderly couple who were stranded in their home Thursday. Oregon State Police Senior Trooper Jeff Johnson and Trooper Paul Rushton were patrolling North Bank Chetco River Road north of Brookings monitoring flood waters when they saw an elderly woman walking outside of a home surrounded by water from the Chetco River. The water had risen so high that it covered a VW Beetle in the backyard of the residence. A neighbor, James Cross, offered to help the troopers get to the woman and returned with a small aluminum boat and electric motor. Cross and the two troopers navigated the current over 100 yards to the house, where they contacted an 80-year-old man and 74-year-old woman. The rescuers made two separate trips to get the couple from their home across the water to the OSP vehicle. The current of the rising water was so fast that the electric motor alone couldn’t navigate across the water, so the troopers had to row in conjunction with the use of the small electric motor. The couple was taken to a local motel where a local organization paid for their overnight lodging. |
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February 22, 2012
- Roseburg, Oregon
