SLIDELL, La. — More stories of people being rescued in Monday's downpour are coming to light. This one is from Slidell where they got five inches of rain.
It's an area where police have made multiple rescues in the past.
Police body camera footage caught the rescue.
“911, Where is your emergency? I'm getting it from OnStar. They have a GMC Terrain that is in flood waters. They're trying to speak to the occupant, but they're very distraught. She was screaming, “Help,” screaming for help, because I think she pushed the button inside of the vehicle,” the emergency call reveals of the conversation between the OnStar employee and the Slidell emergency operator.
Slidell police officer Jason Walden is familiar with this deep drainage ditch behind the shopping center in the 1500 block of Gause Boulevard.
“I've actually, a couple of months ago, pulled somebody out a Camaro in that same exact spot. It could very quickly become a life-threatening situation. The waters through there build up very fast,” said Jason Walden, who has been in law enforcement for 14 years.
His rescue plan of action: keep the driver calm by giving short, simple tasks.
“I could see from a distance she was frantically waving her hands. If I can make them focused on a certain task, it will hopefully take their mind away from whatever has them in distress,” he explained.
The woman being rescued moans and sighs. “Oh, these 76-year-old legs don't work.
That's alright take your, look take your time. We're not in any risk of drowning or anything like that,” Officer Walden tells her during the rescue.
But he knew he had to work efficiently.
“There was water coming into the vehicle, but I'm never going to tell somebody that, because that may put them more into a panic than what I need them to be.”
The driver's car is brand new and still had the temporary plate. She did not feel comfortable telling her story to us today, and didn’t even want to watch the rescue video, but because water and electronics never mix, the windows would not roll down. So, she is encouraging everyone to keep a window punch tool in their cars.
Slidell Police say this is why it's such a hazard when you're driving in high water. There are roads, when covered in water, where you can't see where the road ends and the ditch begins, and there's only a narrow path in between the two.
“Thank you so much,” the woman tells Walden after she is pulled to safety.
“You're welcome,” he responds.
“I think she felt more bad that I had to come into the water than anything, which is not the case. I'll do it for anybody. That's part of the job that I love the most, being able to serve the public,” said Walden.
Officer Walden says in the minutes that the rescue took, the water had already risen a couple of inches.
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