A 69-year-old rural Jefferson County man reportedly was swept up in floodwaters on Mammoth Road southwest of De Soto and held onto a tree for an estimated five hours this morning, Nov. 5. The man was transported to a hospital for treatment of possible hypothermia, De Soto Rural Deputy Chief John Scullin said.
At 7:58 a.m., a motorist called 911 and said he was driving on Mammoth Road and saw a woman stranded near the flooded-out bridge over the Big River. In between the man’s phone call and firefighters’ arrival at 8:09 a.m., the river rose quickly and firetrucks couldn’t get closer than a half-mile from the bridge, Scullin said.
He said firefighters walked a wood line to get to the bridge, where they found the woman stranded but not in immediate danger.
The woman told firefighters she saw her father-in-law’s vehicle go under water on the other side of the bridge, and at 8:30 a.m., the woman and a firefighter heard him call out for help but could not see him, Scullin said.
He said boats from five agencies were in the river searching for the man, and officials tried unsuccessfully to ping the man’s cell phone, which didn’t have cell service.
Scullin said Hillsboro firefighters used a drone to search for the man and at about 11 a.m. spotted him in a tree.
Scullin said Cedar Hill Fire’s boat followed the drone to the man’s location, arriving at about 11:30 a.m.
He said the man, who was 15-18 feet in the tree, was in shock, but firefighters were able to get him to climb down to the boat.
“He was lucky he got up that high or hypothermia or the current would have gotten him,” Scullin said.
He believes the man, who lives off nearby Turley Road, left his home at 6 a.m. so it’s likely the man had been in the tree since about 6:15 a.m.
Scullin said the man was familiar with the area but probably hit a dark spot at the end of the bridge and didn’t realize he was entering the water.
“It was during the downpour we all had this morning,” he said.
Scullin said the man got out of the vehicle and tried to walk back across the bridge “but the water got him” and swept him about 2,200 feet to the tree.