Pair uninjured in flood waters

April 08, 2009 09:34 am

— VANESSA WELCH
vanessa.welch@register-news.com
WALTONVILLE — Two teenagers were not injured after their vehicle stalled in a flooded area of East Stagecoach Road in Waltonville Sunday night.
According to Jefferson County Sheriff Roger Mulch, Kelsey D. Hicks, 17, of Woodlawn, was driving with one passenger, Amber S. Neal, 19, of Mt. Vernon at about 11:57 p.m. on Sunday on Stagecoach Road.
“They were on Stagecoach Road near the bottom ground where the creek runs through and they started to drive off into the water,” Mulch said. “They thought they could make it through but their car stalled in the water.”
Waltonville Fire Protection District arrived at the scene with their truck and rescued Hicks and Neal, who had climbed on top of the vehicle. When deputies arrived, Mulch said they informed the two girls of “how serious these actions were.”
Mulch said the road commissioner was also contacted to barricade the road until it is safe for vehicle traffic.
“Yesterday it was higher than the day before, but it might have started to recede a little,” Mulch said.
Just over a year ago, two people drowned in the Waltonville are on North Hall Lane after trying to drive through flood water on that road. Shannon Allen, 20, and Steven Healy, 35, died on March 18, 2009. Healy was the driver of a pickup truck that attempted to drive through water on the roadway and stalled, according to police reports at the time. A third person in the vehicle, Nicole Asberry, survived the incident.
Last month, Allen’s mother, Tammy Allen, filed a lawsuit against the county charging wrongful death, survival action and family expense.