Neighbors and first responders rescued a man just before he entered a culvert beneath a roadway after he was swept into flash floods July 3 in Reedsburg.
As water in the area quickly rose following a heavy rainstorm, Third Street resident Jessica Perea said she went out to check on her neighbors. She heard screams for help and saw another person trying to rescue a man she said is her neighbor. Perea said the water was up to his neck and debris was “slamming” into him.
“He was like ‘I’m dead I can barely breath anymore,’” she said. “I kept telling him you have to hold on.” She called 911 and sprang into action to help. She was joined by about five other people who took turns holding his hands and arms and keeping rushing debris away to prevent him from being sucked into the basin's tubes.
“He would help us in that situation, too,” she said. “He would never shy away from that.”
Reedsburg Fire Chief Craig Douglas said his department responded to the 911 call from 900 block of Third Street and found the man holding on by the culvert with neighbors trying to help him.