‘Grateful’: Deputy recounts being swept through storm drain
- A Florida sheriff’s deputy, motorist survived being sucked into a storm drain
- Underwater for 30 seconds, they traveled 100 ft. through a drain pipe
- Deputy: “I’m just very grateful and thankful we both make it out OK”
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(NewsNation) — A deputy of Florida’s northwestmost county said he’s “grateful to be alive” after he risked life and limb earlier this month to save a stranded motorist trapped amid torrential downpours and rising flood waters.
Escambia County Deputy William Hollingsworth was on patrol in the early morning hours of June 16 to help stranded motorists caught in rapidly rising waters. Spotting a trapped citizen, Hollingsworth approached, unaware of the life-threatening incident about to unfold.
Seconds later, the citizen disappeared underwater. Hollingsworth rushed to his aid but would succumb to the same fate.
For 30 seconds, the two men held their breath as torrents of rainwater sucked them into a drainage pipe traveling underneath the four-lane roadway of Hwy 98. For nearly 100 feet, the men clawed at anything they could reach for a last attempt at life.
Then it was over.
The men emerged on the other side visibly shaken, but otherwise unscathed.
“I was in disbelief when it happened,” Hollingsworth told NewsNation. “Sometimes I’m still in disbelief, but I am just very grateful and thankful we both make it out OK.”
Hollingsworth said he hasn’t had a chance to talk to the motorist since the incident, but he looks forward to “getting up with him.”
