Colo. Flood Hero Rescues Mom and Daughter from Car

By: Annie Hauser

Published: September 12,2013

 

 

 

 

 

The storm system that caused widespread flooding and at least three deaths in northern Colorado Thursday also put the lives of two suburban Denver residents in danger Monday, until a stranger stepped in to save the day.
On Monday afternoon, Stephanie Liddick, 25, and her daugher, McKenna, 6, were swept away in deep flood water in downtown Lakewood, Colo., a Denver suburb, KDVR, Denver's Fox affiliate station reported.
As Liddick's car started filling with water up to the cup holders — the vehicle was stuck in a four-foot high swell — she told KDVR that she knew she had to act.
(MORE: Up-to-Date News on Flash Flooding in Colorado)
McKenna stood on the roof with Liddick standing on the window, as the car began to float away. Merle Cordova, who spotted them while driving through the rising flood water and captured the mom and daughter standing on the car with his cell phone camera, pulled his truck around and pulled them to safety. (See the dramatic video here.)
Cordova told Yahoo that the dramatic video doesn't get across the real danger the mother and daughter were facing. "What you can't see is that there is a reservoir down a hill," he said, "which all the water flows into when it floods. The only thing that was between them and the lake was one house."
After the life-saving rescue, Cordova dropped the Liddicks off at a nearby school to get warm, and then returned to the flooded street to tow Liddick's car out of the street.
A home repairman, Cordova then went about his day — working on soaking-wet clothes until 10 p.m. KDVR reported. Still, he said it was nothing.
"Everybody’s good, alive and safe so … better get back to work,” Cordova said in an interview with KDVR.
But McKenna said he's "my best hero I ever had," as her mom hailed him as "absolutely amazing" and "very selfless."
The flooding situation has only worsened since Monday's dramatic rescue, killing three early Thursday morning, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of people, including at least 400 individuals affiliated with the University of Colorado Boulder. The campus was shut down Thursday because of the flooding, Boulder Office of Emergency Management spokeswoman Gabrielle Boerkircher told The Associated Press.
And the threat is far from over, according to meteorologists.
"A slow-moving area of low pressure over the Rockies combined with a moist, southerly flow at all levels of the atmosphere will keep the threat of locally heavy rain and flooding in place into Friday," said Weather.com meteorologist Chris Dolce.
Emergency Management Director Mike Chard said people should avoid creeks and waterways, and not attempt to cross flooded intersections in their cars, according to The Associated Press.
Flash flooding is one of the deadliest weather events on record every year. It kills about 84 people annually, usually when flood water sweeps cars off the road, according to The National Weather Service.
MORE: The Colorado Flood Emergency (PHOTOS) 

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User submitted photo take on Sept. 12, 2013, of heavy rains in northern Colorado. The National Weather Service declared a flash flood emergency in the area on Sept. 11. (Jefferson County Sheriff's Office)