LINCOLN COUNTY, Mo. — First responders in Lincoln County, Missouri, were busy Friday night and early Saturday. Several inches of rain fell, swelling creeks and blocking roadways.
Big Creek was a big problem in at least two locations.
A pickup in the middle of a corn field was not driven there. It floated that far off of Meyers Road in the dark early Saturday.
“Once he got into the floodwater, his truck started moving,” said Lincoln County Fire Protection District 1 Assistant Chief Robert Shramek Jr. “As you can see, his truck is a full-size pickup, and it wiped it off the road. Luckily this individual wasn’t hurt at all, just very scared.”
So how far off the road did that pickup float?
“I’m guessing about 600 feet,” said Shramek.
The corn stalks point the direction water drained back into Big Creek. Big Creek is also the reason both directions of Highway 61 were temporarily closed at the Lincoln County/St. Charles County border overnight. By 10:30 Saturday morning, water still nearly reached the bottom of the bridge.
Shramek said that pickup in the middle of the field was one of about a dozen calls Lincoln County Fire Protection District 1 crews responded to overnight.
“On Highway J we actually had three different vehicles at the same time that we were helping get out of the water. There were nine individuals total out of those three vehicles. It took a lot of resources.”
On Kinker Drive, south of Moscow Mills, residents recorded video of flash flooding in their subdivision.
“Everyone was all right,” said Camren Anderson, “but we had some issues with our neighbors over there. They couldn’t get out of their house and the fire department had to come and get them.”
Shramek said the driver of that pickup did the right thing because he stayed in the vehicle and called 911.
Other Lincoln County fire and rescue departments were involved in several other water rescues, as well.