A week of off-and-on heavy rain led to rising waters and three calls for water rescues the weekend of March 24-26, according to the Cedar Hill Fire Protection District.
No injuries were reported, but in each of the three calls a vehicle had to be left behind, Cedar Hill Fire Assistant Chief David Jones said.
He said one of the calls came in at about 10:30 p.m. March 24 about a group of campers trapped by high waters at the Morse Mill Park’s Big River access spot.
“Eight individuals were in the park camping and got stranded when water came up and blocked their exit out,” Jones said. “We were able to use the old Morse Mill bridge to walk them out. We got them all out safely.
“There was one vehicle left behind. There was no way to get out with it.”
Jones said all those stranded at the park were young adults, but he did not have information about where they live or information about the vehicle.
He said it took about 20 minutes to get the campers to safety, and then the campers called someone they knew for a ride out of the park.
Jones said he checked on the vehicle on March 26 and “water was up to the window.”
The district received another water rescue call at 10:20 p.m. March 25 from a couple in a Chevrolet Equinox in the 6000 block of Dutch Creek Road in Cedar Hill, he said.
Jones said water from Buck Creek, an arm of the Big River, came up over the road.
“It was an elderly couple who drove through water and their vehicle stalled,” he said. “We walked an inflatable rescue boat to them and took them (in the boat) to the shore. It was a man and a woman from Cedar Hill.”
Firefighters were on the scene for that rescue for about an hour and 20 minutes, Jones reported.
Big River Ambulance conveyed the couple to their nearby home, he said.
Jones said he also checked the Equinox March 26 and water was up to its window.
At 10:40 a.m. March 26, the district once again received a water rescue call from a man trapped with his vehicle, a Honda Santa Fe, in the 5100 block of South Byrnesville Road in House Springs, where the Big River had come out of its banks, Jones reported.
“A 58-year-old man drove his vehicle in water and it stalled out in the water,” Jones said. “He was on the roof of the vehicle when we got there. Water was halfway up the door when we arrived. We walked a rescue boat to him and brought him to dry land.
“He called someone to come get him.”
Jones said firefighters were on the scene for about 20 minutes.
The High Ridge Fire Protection District helped with the March 26 rescue, while Big River Ambulance assisted with the March 25 and March 26 rescues, Jones said.