OKC Fire Rescues 7 Drivers After Heavy Rain, Flash Floods

Heavy rain in the metro Tuesday morning caused flash flooding that surprised several drivers.

Oklahoma City firefighters made at least seven high-water rescues in those flash floods Tuesday morning. Fire Station 8 is the city's main dive and swift water rescue station, and its firefighters go through extra training to prepare for rescues like the ones we saw this morning.

"When rain comes in our water rises really quick but it also drains really quick so you can get caught really easily in those fast-rising waters," Lieutenant Steven Sturgeon said. 

That's exactly what happened to several metro drivers, resulting in rescues executed by specially trained firefighters like Sturgeon.

"We actually study the movement of water, it's called hydrology," he explained. "We're able to look at a body of water and how it's moving down a river or a road and know okay there's an entrapment there, there's a strainer there."

In addition to basic firefighter and EMS training, everyone at Fire Station 8 is a certified rescue diver and has extensive training in swift water rescues.

"We're able to read the water and what the waves are going to do so we're better able to tell okay it's safe to go here and then we can go safely and navigate to the victim wherever they may be," Sturgeon said.

But he added there are easy ways to avoid needing a rescue team in the first place. "If you can't see the lines of the road don't drive it that's kind of my rule of thumb," he said.

And of course, you can follow the phrase we all know: “Turn around don't drown.”

Firefighters at Fire Station 8 always recommend avoiding standing water at all costs in a flash flooding situation.