SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) - Rescuers raced against the clock to save a Florida construction worker trapped in a spot with rapidly rising flood waters.
When the unidentified man first fell into a water outflow channel that leads to Sarasota Bay on Tuesday the water was about calf-deep. But water levels rose faster than rescuers predicted due to heavy rains. The water was chest deep by the end.
Sarasota County Fire officials harnessed rescuers with ropes to make sure they wouldn’t get swept away. A special operations team tried to stymie the water flow until they could secure the man to a backboard and lift him out of the channel.
Fire Chief Michael Regnier told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune the victim would have been below the water had they not gotten him where he needed to be.
The man’s condition is not known.
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Information from: Sarasota (Fla.) Herald-Tribune, http://www.heraldtribune.com
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