Vermont Business Magazine At approximately 5:30 Tuesday evening, Vermont State Police received areport of an occupied truck stuck in rising flood waters on Longley Bridge Road inMontgomery.Members of the Vermont State Police, Franklin County Sheriff's Office, EnosburgRescue, and area fire departments responded to the scene. During theirresponse units found direct routes to the stuck vehicle were impassible due toflood waters and/or heavy mud on back roads. This drastically increasedresponse times as alternative routes were sought. At one point a respondingambulance and fire truck were stuck in heavy mud on Longley Bridge Road.
Franklin County Sheriff's Office Corporal McKenny was the first law enforcement
to arrive on scene. He and nearby resident, Stanley Longley, saw
the full size truck stuck in the rising flood waters. Realizing the trapped
female was sitting in the frigid water and fearing the vehicle may be swept away
Corporal McKenny and Mr. Longley took action.
Mr. Longley obtained his large farm tractor from his residence and drove it to
the edge of the flood water. Corporal McKenny boarded the tractor and Mr
Longley backed into the water towards the stuck vehicle. Once at the vehicle
Corporal McKenny was able to break a window and pull the female out of the
truck. McKenny, with the assistance of Enosburg Rescue member Dean Scott, was
able to get the female to the tractor. Mr. Longley then drove all involved to
safety.
The female was not seriously injured and was transported to Northwest Medical
Center for precautionary purposes.
Vermont State Police would like to remind the public the importance of not
driving on submerged roadways. The National Weather Service reports each year
more deaths occur due to flooding than from any other severe weather related
hazard. The Centers for Disease Control report that over half of all
flood-related deaths occur when a vehicle is driven into hazardous flood water.
Source: Vermont State Police 4.15.2014