Apr 27, 2009 11:26 pm US/Eastern
Survivors Recount Dramatic Water Main Break Rescue
BETHESDA, Md. (WJZ) ―
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There were frantic calls to 911 from drivers paralyzed by torrential flooding on River Road in Bethesda last winter.
CBS
The pictures were dramatic, the calls to 911 were filled with fear.
A mother and son who survived the Bethesda water main break last winter are reliving their terrifying rescue.
Jessica Kartalija has their amazing story.
There were frantic calls to 911 from drivers paralyzed by torrential flooding on River Road in Bethesda.
"We just got really scared," said Dan Li.
She was driving her nine-year-old son Sean Cody to school as she does every day when the stay-at-home mom and her son became trapped in their car for more than an hour. Four feet of water were relentlessly beating on their windows.
Dan called 911, pleading for help.
"Can you hurry up? I'm just so scared," she said.
A water main break sent freezing cold water rushing at 150,000 gallons per minute.
"I called again. I said, `Why doesn't anyone, you know, shut the water off? Please, just shut the water off!'" she said.
Now, for the first time since their dramatic rescue, Dan and Sean talk exclusively with
Eyewitness News.
"I thought it was a landslide," Sean said.
Brown water rushed past their Subaru.
"Two cars in front of me washed behind me," Dan said.
There were more desperate calls to 911.
"Then, finally, Sean said, `There's a helicopter.' I said, `Oh, that's for us,'" Dan said.
"There's this basket swinging like a wild animal, so my mom finally reached out and grabbed it," Sean said.
They were soaked; the freezing cold water quickly turned to ice on their bodies as they were lifted to the sky.
"She comforted me. I wasn't as nervous, as scared," Sean said.
"I always look around and look at the spot and say, `That's our spot,'" Dan said.
Nine people were rescued that morning. Some suffered from hypothermia.
"It felt like needles, but also I almost got frostbite on one finger," Sean said.
Dan says she now lives her life in the moment, but is still driving that Subaru.
"Things just can happen out of the blue. You never know. The car is amazing, actually," she said.
The pipe that burst was 5.5 feet wide. Because of the intensity of the rushing water from that size pipe, it was safer for utility workers to first slow the flow before cutting it off completely.
The water main and the road are now completely repaired.
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