‘I’m not dying here’: Father of 3 describes rescue from flash flooding
By Andy Alcock
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HENRY COUNTY, Missouri (KMBC) — A young father was rescued from flash flooding in Henry County on Thursday after he crawled out of his car and into a tree to survive.
Dalton Drake, 28, was heading to work on Highway K just north of Germantown at about 5:30 a.m.
Drake said as he approached the bridge over Deep Water Creek, it was raining and he couldn’t see clearly with his windshield wipers going.
When he opened his window to look outside, he said it was already too late.
Drake climbed out of his stuck car and onto the roof, already submerged, and then into a tree, knowing his life was in jeopardy.
“I thought it a few times, but then I thought about I’m not dying here. I got three kids and a wife at home,” he said.
Motivated by his family to survive, Drake said he climbed as high as he could to stay out of the raging floodwater.
He said in the early morning darkness, the only sound he heard was the rushing water.
Drake said two cars came by and turned around, unable to hear his frantic cries for help.
Luis Garibo, a man Drake has known for years, drove by in the third car.
“I definitely did hear just a faint little help, and it just caught my attention. I rolled down my window and turned down my radio, and that’s when I heard it,” Garibo said.
A fisherman, Garibo had a life jacket in his vehicle and gave it to Drake.
Garibo’s co-worker arrived later and attached the life jacket to a rope.
After Garibo called 911, Drake’s cousin, a conservation agent, pulled Drake from the water into a boat to safety.
“Regardless if it was me or anyone else that stopped and helped him out. You know, I like to think anyone would have stopped in that situation,” Garibo said.
“It’s a small world out there. You never know who’s going to be your best friend that one day to the next. It makes me appreciate everything I have a lot more. Just my family, my friends, and acquaintances, I meet every day. Just be a better person, be grateful they’re even here,” Drake said.
Drake’s car, with his wallet and phone inside, was washed away in the flash flooding.
He points out that those things can be replaced, but he can’t be.
Drake said his ordeal lasted about an hour and forty-five minutes.
He said that by the time he was rescued, he was soaked and so cold that his teeth were chattering.
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