Austin Fire rescues multiple people from floods, gets 700+ storm-related calls

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4 days ago

The Brief
Austin Fire Dept rescued multiple people from floods
Dispatchers also got about 700 calls in the 24 hours that followed the storm
AFD says some of the calls could have been prevented
AUSTIN, Texas - The Austin Fire Department rescued multiple people from swift water due to the recent severe weather, and responded to over 700 storm-related calls.
What we know
As the monster storm swept through Austin on Wednesday, it battered neighborhoods, like those along Shoal Creek.
"Just crazy wind, sideways winds, scary wind," said Laurie Painter, a Shoal Creek neighbor. "Lots of hail. Not really large hail, but maybe one-fourth to half an inch of hail."
It also brought lots of rain.
"Looking out the window from 30 feet, it was opaque," said Dianne Goss, another Shoal Creek resident. "You can usually see through the rain, but it was just a gray wall."
What we know
Austin Fire says it got at least six water rescue calls.
"Unfortunately, these types of rescues are something we do pretty regularly when we have flash flooding like this," said Assistant Chief Thayer Smith.
A call for two people swept away near Woodview Avenue and Burnet Road along Shoal Creek came into AFD around 7:30 pm Wednesday.
They were able to save one person, but the other died.
"My understanding is that this was not a vehicle or something that was washed under the creek," said Smith. "These were pedestrians that were somehow in the creek or near the creek."
Smith said his Austin fire team also assisted in a rescue near Interstate 35 and 183 where two people were swept into a drainage area.
"Miraculously, survived going from one side of I-35 frontage road, all the way underneath the interstate in the drainage tunnel out the other side," said Smith.
By the numbers
Dispatchers got about 700 calls in the 24 hours that followed the storm.
415 of them came in the first three hours, a drastic increase from the average 280 to 320 calls a day.
Smith said he hadn't seen this many calls during a thunderstorm since the 2015 Memorial Day Floods.
"We were tremendously busy during the initial onset of the storm," said Smith.
What you can do
Smith said some of those calls could have been prevented. So with more weather to come, Smith reminds drivers:
"Turn around don't drown. I don't know how much we can emphasize that. The amount of people that drive around barricades simply because they don't want to be inconvenienced where we are standing blocking the road. The amount of people that drive by us and put not only themselves but the put us in danger to go back out there and get them is ridiculous."
If you happen to lose a tree or tree limbs in coming storms, Smith added to make sure there's no electrical lines around it.
That was another call dispatchers took a lot of yesterday.
The Source
Information in this report is from reporting/interviews by FOX 7 Austin's Lauren Rangel.