Fire crews are still making flood rescues in Sacramento County even as rivers recede
Cosumnes fire crews remained busy Monday evacuating residents from homes and vehicles even as high waters from New Year’s Eve flooding began to recede.
Two adults were escorted Monday morning from their water-surrounded home in rural east Elk Grove, including one with health concerns, fire officials said. Both residents were safely evacuated by boat and did not need medical care. Additional information on the two was not immediately available, Cosumnes officials said Monday afternoon.
Crews reached the home in the 9000 block of Mooney Road north of Grant Line Road about 9 a.m., escorting the family to safety by 11 a.m., said Cosumnes Fire Department deputy chief Dan Quiggle.
“We’ve had conversations with them over the past few days. They were evacuated at their request,” said Quiggle.
The morning mission was one among many for busy Cosumnes crews who have plucked dozens from vehicles stranded and swept away by the fast-moving flood waters that overwhelmed rural roads and Highway 99.
“We’ve removed more than 50 people from numerous locations from their vehicles,” Quiggle said, adding that number was likely “significantly higher.” In four of those instances, vehicles were swept off roadways but recovered, including the recovery of a motorist found dead Sunday on submerged Dillard Road.
“We continue to have need for people who got stuck in flood waters,” Quiggle said Monday afternoon. Many of the calls, he said, were for drivers who became stuck trying to ford overflowing roads.
The Mooney Road residents had been in contact with fire officials here as pounding rain and a swollen Cosumnes River swamped nearby Wilton Road and the hard-hit community of Wilton just a short distance across Grant Line to the south.
Grant Line Road was open to traffic with no restrictions Monday. Farther west, Highway 99 also reopened Monday as the region continues to recover from the New Year’s Eve storm.
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