Authorities rescue 5 from truck trapped in flooded creek in Tennessee

ByMORGAN WINSOR ABCNews logo
Monday, March 1, 2021

Five people, including an infant, were rescued from a pickup truck that had slid off a water-covered bridge and into a swollen creek in Tennessee on Sunday afternoon amid severe flooding across the southern U.S. state, authorities said.

The vehicle was swept off the road by floodwater and became partially submerged in the rushing creek, with all five occupants trapped inside, near the small town of Liberty in DeKalb County, about 60 miles southeast of Nashville.

Water rescue teams from multiple agencies worked together and used various equipment, including a bucket truck, to safely rescue the individuals, according to the DeKalb County Fire Department. There were no injuries reported.

The DeKalb County Fire Department posted footage of the dramatic rescue on Facebook.

The National Weather Service's forecast office in Nashville issued a flood watch on Sunday for a number of Tennessee counties, including DeKalb. The agency warned that "showers and thunderstorms will produce intense rainfall rates in excess of 2 inches per hour at times," and that "runoff from these storms will quickly overwhelm poor draining areas as well as small creeks and streams."

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