A Van Buren child caught in a flash flood Wednesday was hurtled more than 200 yards under a busy, four-lane interstate before rescuers found him clinging to a grapevine in a rush of water, a police spokesman said.
Department spokesman Sgt. Jonathan Wear said a driver on an access road near Exit 5 of Interstate 40 saw a child attempting to flag them down before 4 p.m. Wednesday.
"The boy waved them down and said, 'I just watched my brother get swept down the drain,'" Wear said.
More than 2 inches of rain had fallen over the past 30 minutes, Wear said, which led to a flash-flood warning for Van Buren and surrounding areas. Water filled drainage ditches and culverts, Wear said, pouring quickly over roadways.
"It's hard to explain how swift and deep this water was moving," Wear said.
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The driver called 911, and police officers, firefighters and emergency responders went out to look for the child. When they found him, Wear said, the 9-year-old was holding onto a vine in a culvert more than 200 yards from where his brother said he'd fallen.
"The water carried this child underground, under both west and eastbound lanes of I-40," Wear said. "That's nearly two football fields that this child was underground. The water was moving so swift it removed part of his clothing."
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Wear said the child was completely submerged for at least part of the trip but escaped unscathed.
"It amazes me that he's even alive," Wear said. "We notified the parents before we found him and, fortunately, we were able to give them good news. He wound up being perfectly fine."
Wear said police officers took the child home after he was checked out by medics.
"It could have been so bad," Wear said.
"And it turned out to be a happy story."
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Metro on 06/06/2019