TOPEKA (WIBW) - Five individuals were rescued from the top of a vehicle in a “well-known flooding area” in Topeka early Tuesday morning.
An officer with the Topeka Police Department witnessed a vehicle on S.E. 29th Street between Kansas Avenue and Cunningham Street.
Topeka police Sgt. Matthew Wilson tells 13 NEWS that a couple of
cars were stranded in the water in the flooded area.
One of the vehicles had five individuals stranded on top of the hood. Officials say that the Topeka Fire Department showed up with a boat and they were able to get the stranded individuals in the boat.
Wilson said the water was deep with a fast-moving current where the individuals were stranded. The car was stopped after colliding with a billboard. Topeka police say that the car would’ve been swept away if it weren’t for the billboard.
One of the individuals in the vehicle told 13 NEWS that they rolled all of the windows down in the vehicle and got on top of the car for between 30 and 45 minutes.
In addition, the individual said that the roof of the vehicle was full of water by the time the rescue boat arrived.
The individuals in the other vehicle that were stranded were able to get out of the vehicle, but it was completely submerged in floodwaters.