SAN ANTONIO – Heavy downpours across the area had first responders scrambling Monday morning, trying to help people who were either swept away or stranded in the high water that accumulated on local roadways.
In the first eight hours of the day, San Antonio firefighters responded to 25 calls, either for high water rescues or high water investigations.
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Drivers who had tried to chance it in all that water quickly found out their cars were no match for it.
“It was over the curb and over all the construction, and people were driving into it not knowing what they were going into,” said Dusty Smith, who works at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel near S. Santa Rosa and Cesar Chavez.
He said at one point, two feet of water was covering the road, near a construction site.
Smith said drivers, like one of his employees, were either getting caught up in the flood or hitting a curb covered by the water.
Even Smith, himself, got into trouble while trying to help a stranger. “I took him in my car and hit a curb and destroyed my front left tire,” he said.
While he said the damage to his car would be easy to repair, other people got in over their heads.
Firefighters had to rescue a woman who was swept away in floodwaters after the car she was in became stranded near Austin Highway and Corinne Drive.
They say they found her around 2 a.m., in chilly water up to her neck.
Three other people who were in the car with her remained with the vehicle.
Fire crews were able to escort them to safety.
The woman who they rescued was taken to a hospital, mainly to get warm.
All were expected to be OK.
A couple of hours earlier, firefighters received a report about five people who had been washed away in a tunnel near Interstate 10 and El Monte Street.
Crews searched the area, including a drainage ditch that extends all the way to Woodlawn Lake.
However, they did not find anyone.
There were also reports throughout the morning of cars stranded in high water near Highway 151 and Christus Santa Rosa Westover Hills Hospital.
With more heavy rain in the forecast, people are being reminded not to drive through any high water or go around any barriers that are blocking those flooded streets.