Cave Valley hero rescues man, child from submerged car

Twenty-seven-year-old Mervin Kelly is being hailed as a hero in the community of Cave Valley in St Ann after he rescued a male driver and a little girl from a car that was completely submerged on a flooded road in the town on Friday.

Heavy rains associated with Tropical Storm Ida caused the Cave River to overflow its banks, flooding Cave Valley and other communities, damaging the roadway and crops in South West St Ann.

But the highpoint of the day was the dramatic rescue of the two by a man known for his swimming skills.

Sometime after 3 o'clock on that fateful afternoon, water from the river suddenly came rushing across a section of a road in Cave Valley when a white car being driven by a man with a child on board came face to face with the raging water.

The driver stopped, but soon after decided that it was safe enough to drive through and proceeded.

Almost instantly, the powerful gush got hold of the car and started twirling it, rapidly filling it with water. The vehicle was soon completely submerged.

“Him underestimate the water,” Kelly told The Gleaner on Saturday.

“As him drive off and go inna the water, the water jus tek the car and just a spin it an' wash it weh. Ah di light post and the tree stop the car.”

Kelly said he was in a supermarket nearby buying a few items when he heard a commotion coming from outside.

“A inna the supermarket me deh a get few stuff and I hear the rush and the noise, suh mi move with the rush and the noise and when mi realise, people ah seh 'help them! Help them!'” Kelly recounted.

He continued: “No one was there serious like me to go into the water. One man did dedeh a say, 'who ready? who ready?' but him nuh ready all now. But mi neva haffi think twice. Mi tek off mi clothes an' chuck off in deh and move toward it (the car). Is a good distance but fi reach out deh fi save them a simple thing, yuh nuh.”

When Kelly reached the car, both occupants had made their way outside. The frightened man was holding the little girl. Kelly took the child and waded to safety as the man followed.

Onlookers were mystified as to why the driver tried to drive through the raging water.

COMPLETE STRANGERS

“Mi ask the youth (the driver) why him couldn't pull the door fast? Him a tell me say a because a the pressure ah di wata, caa is not dead water, a river a run through the water, so it couldn't pull,” Kelly shared.

Kelly said he doesn't know the driver and didn't get a chance to get acquainted after the incident.

“Because the water did dirty, mi just go home go wash off wid some bleach wata same time. Mi nuh even know them; them is not from this area,” he explained.

He continued, “Mi put mi life at a risk yesterday but wha mi do, it come een like mi nuh even know wha mi do. Ah afterwards mi a watch the video mi a say, 'a really me do that?'

“But swimming a wha mi do, so if mi see someone out deh a drown yuh nuh haffi ask, yuh know say mi a go try save them. Is a must!”

In the meantime, life more or less returned to normal in Cave Valley on Saturday following flooding.

Debris that blocked the bridge at Aenon Town along the St Ann-Clarendon border, which Mayor of St Ann's Bay Sydney Stewart blamed for the flooding in Cave Valley and other areas, has been cleared.

Blocked roads caused by land slippages and fallen trees were also cleared, allowing motor vehicles access to all communities.

Infrastructure and food crops are expected to be heavy casualties of the flood.

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