FENTON, Mo. — Fire crews showed up to rescue a couple after floodwaters overtook a Jefferson County RV Park. It was moments after park owners went door to door warning campers of the rising waters.
The couple and everyone else made it out just fine and so did others who said the rushing waters seemed to come out of nowhere.
It wasn’t the afternoon people at the Covered Bridge RV Park expected.
"It's a mess. It came up so fast,” Pam Potts said. "It was at my knees."
"At least a couple feet,” park owner Phil Tracy added.
The floodwaters rushed so high and quick, it prompted fire crews to show up to the park off Highway 141 to help Charles Lawrence and his wife out.
"I looked out the window. I told my wife 'I can see the creek from here,' I said 'that's not a good thing' and about 15 minutes later here we were, fire department was out here,” Lawrence explained.
Staff say this has happened before.
"We had one like this in '22 that happened in the middle of the night but not, nothing like this,” Potts said.
"This isn't our first rodeo so we went out knocking on doors, prepping people,” Tracy said.
Tracy and his team quickly worked to make sure the park was safe. He explained what happened when things got intense.
"We’re really knocking on doors like ‘hey, you don’t got any more time, you need to get going," he said. "There were some people that were not home and their rigs didn't move. There's going to be a couple where it might've gotten inside their camper. There's a couple cars that didn't get out either that might've got water in them."
Although a little startled by it all, Lawrence is counting his blessings.
"We got out ok. Everyone's safe. Dog got out. Really all that matters,” he said.
"It's just crazy how fast it happens,” Potts added.
The community was worried about another round of rain coming in before the floodwaters had a chance to recede. Fortunately, that wasn't the case. The floodwaters have subsided, and neighbors are hoping they won't relive Tuesday’s experience anytime soon.