by Kim Hilsenbeck
A middle of the night 911 call that a resident of the Coves of Cimmeron heard screaming resulted in a several hour-long swift water rescue situation by the Buda Fire Department.
According to Buda Fire Chief Clay Huckaby, who ran the command center overnight, it was one 10 “vehicle in water” situations his department responded to over the course of several hours, starting at midnight Thursday. In total, they responded to 23 calls throughout the night of hard rain.
“We got a call about midnight for lightning strike at the Ranch of Buda apartments; we’ve been going ever since then,” Huckaby said.
During the same time, Huckaby said Buda Fire Department’s main station also flooded, causing substantial damage to the building, furniture and more.
“I was able to get the computers up off the floor just in time,” he said.
But the administrative staff will likely have to be housed somewhere else temporarily while the station undergoes construction to fix the damage.
Huckaby said other calls came in for vehicles under water, including one at FM 967 at Onion Creek near Buda Elementary, two at FM 967 at Cullen Country, and one on FM 967 at FM 1626 near the Sac n Pac.
“The water was over the roof of the car on that one,” he said. “Most of the calls were for water that was up near or over the roof of the vehicle.”
But the call most of his personnel will remember is the one that came in saying someone heard screaming.
At approximately 2:30 a.m., Capt. Craig Odell, who took the lead on the scene, said his crew responded to the newly constructed area of FM 1626 and Lakewood Drive, near the Coves of Cimmeron.
“We heard them when we got out of the trucks,” he said. “But we couldn’t see them.”
His crew used lights on the fire trucks and a thermal imaging camera to get a fix on the location of the screaming.
They finally located a male about 50 yards down river and a female about 150 yards down river.
“They were clinging to separate trees about 150 yards apart,” Odell said. “They were just above the water line – it was amazing they were able to pull themselves out of the water onto those trees.”
According to Odell, the two passengers were traveling on FM 1626 when their car was swept off the bridge.
For the next several hours, Odell and his crew worked to create a rescue plan. Little Bear Creek was not accessible by road. Putting any of his crew in the rushing water was not an option as the flow of the river was deemed unsafe.
With the driving rain, calls to Austin/Travis County EMS Starflight and the Texas Department of Public Safety did not result in a helicopter arriving any time soon. Odell said they also attempted to get a swift water rescue boat from another emergency rescue agency – that didn’t pan out either as so many Hays County area rescue units were doing exactly the same thing.
Meanwhile, the male and female continued clinging to their respective trees. Odell said a lot of his crew’s job last night was motivational.
“We were talking over the PA system and we felt they could hear us,” he said. “We kept saying, ‘just hold on, we’re going to come get you.’”
A short break in the weather finally allowed Starflight to take off. Odell commended the skill of the pilot and rescue crew for navigating the situation and getting the victims out.
Once they were out of danger, Odell said both were treated on scene for lacerations. They were also extremely cold, Odell said, having been out in the rain for about four hours.
“We started the warming process and gave them both fluids,” he said. “In that situation, you worry about hypothermia setting in.”
Both victims were taken by ambulance to Seton Medical Center Hays with non-life threatening injuries, according to Odell. Both are expected to recover fully.
