Watch Dramatic Rescue: Texas Man Trapped On SUV Roof In Flood

SAN ANTONIO, TX — A San Antonio man spent 45 minutes perched on the roof of his SUV Monday morning while water rushed all around him. Fire crews pulled off a dramatic rescue about 11:15 a.m., tying a step ladder onto a fully extended truck ladder to give the man a bridge to crawl to safety.

The stranded motorist had tried to drive through a foot of water on a low-lying stretch of highway. Water rose quickly, rushing at around 15 mph and lodging the SUV against a guardrail on Pinn Road, authorities said.

The area wasn’t marked by barricades, so the driver isn’t likely to get a ticket, police said. (For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from San Antonio Patch, or click here to find your local Texas Patch. Also, if you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

“(He) took a chance and drove across. and he shouldn’t have driven across,” Wally Yates, a battalion chief with the San Antonio Fire Department, told KSAT-TV.

Yates said the driver is “a little embarrassed” by the incident.

“I can imagine it (was) pretty nerve-wracking (for him),” he said.

The SUV visibly lifted when the man crawled off the roof and none of its four wheels was touching pavement, the fire department said.

San Antonio rescue crews have investigated about 22 recent high-water incidents, including one on Highway 151 at Leon Creek just prior to the incident in which the man became trapped.

Image via Associated Press video