Halstead Fire Department performs water rescue; river still rising

By Jared Janzen

HALSTEAD—With many roads surrounding Halstead and across Harvey County underwater, officials urge drivers not to get impatient and make risky decisions to drive through flooded roads.

At about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, the Halstead Fire Department was dispatched out to rescue two people stranded after their vehicle became stuck on a flooded roadway. The incident happened just north of Halstead on Southwest 24th Street, east of South Hertzler Road (K89).

Instead of using its boat, the department deployed the newest addition to the fleet, a brush truck, which sits high enough up that it was able to reach the two stranded females and bring them to safety.

The Little Arkansas River by Halstead has not crested yet and measured at 19.86 feet Wednesday afternoon.

Fire Chief Jim VanSchaick guessed that under ordinary circumstances, the river would have crested about as high as it did two weeks ago, which was 21.3 feet. But with more rain in the forecast for Thursday and Friday, he said that variable made it hard to predict.

VanSchaick said the city had no immediate plans to close the railroad gate east of Halstead or the Main Street gate, but that they were prepared just in case.

“We’ve always got it in the back of our heads, but there are no plans to do so right now,” he said.

City crews closed the floodgate on the west side of town on Halstead Road (County Road 801) by 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. Even though this was done in the dark, VanSchaick said it had gone smoothly and only took about 30 minutes. They were able to reuse the sandbags from two weeks ago.

According to VanSchaick, this is the first time since the levee was built in 1994 that the city has experienced two high-water events so close back-to-back.

Halstead Fire/EMS responded to one other water-related rescue this week. They assisted Sedgwick first responders Tuesday afternoon at Southwest 96th and South Emma Creek Road after a motorist got stranded driving through a flooded roadway. The driver was fine and was taken back to the Halstead Fire Station to meet someone for a ride.

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