Members of the Salem Fire Protection District stood by at their station and handled multiple calls as they came during the flooding rains Friday night.
Assistant Fire Chief Bill Fulton says, fortunately, there were no injuries.
“I don’t have exact numbers for you, but I know we had between 20 and 25 calls for service last (Friday) night, whether it be stranded cars, whether it be issues with flooding in their basements, and having to get the power controlled and that kind of thing. We went into storm mode. In storm mode, everybody responds to the station, and we do limited response to each individual call so we don’t dedicate all of our recourses in one spot. It seemed to work pretty well.”
Fulton says one of the most challenging vehicle rescues was one on West Whitaker Street, where water in the flooded creek was three to four feet over the roadway. A fire truck was backed up to those in the vehicle that climbed up on the top of the car. Firemen were then able to move them to the back of the fire truck and take them to the fire station to dry off.
Tow trucks helped numerous stranded motorists get out of high water that eventually closed U.S. 50 in the Death Valley area on the west side of Salem.
In Centralia, police and others were helping motorists who got stranded in high water along several intersections along Poplar and Elm as well as along North Locust Street just north of Calumet.
Marion County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to multiple reports of stranded vehicles. One drove off Bee Branch Road into a deep ditch. Iuka Firemen used another truck to get next to the stranded truck and helped get the driver out.
Vehicles try to navigate flooded West Main in Death Valley Friday night. Vehicles eventually became stranded and the road closed. Photo by Sam Phillips.
An ambulance and Centralia ESDA car both become submerged in flood waters along South Locust Street north of Calumet. Photo by Jerry and Sons Towing.
