An angel in the flood

What should have been a routine two-minute drive from Dominica Drive to Chelsea Manor turned into a harrowing 15-minute ordeal for an elderly couple, after their car was swept away by raging floodwaters during a thunderstorm in New Kingston two Fridays ago.

Barbara and Lincoln Robinson, both in their 70s, recounted their terrifying experience to The Sunday Gleaner last week, describing how their vehicle, a 2015 red Mercedes-Benz, was caught in rapidly rising waters, spun out of control, and crashed into a light pole before striking another vehicle. They say they owe their lives to the bravery of a young woman who waded through waist-high water to rescue them.

The couple had just left a nearby meeting and were making one final stop at Chelsea Manor before heading home. Though they had seen ominous black clouds rolling in and lightning splitting the sky, they never imagined what would come next.

“I turned on my intermittent wipers at Surgical on Dominica Drive. And by the time I came to the intersection at the end of Dominica Drive and Chelsea Avenue, all hell broke loose … . It all happened,” Lincoln said.

The downpour, which had been forecast the day before by the Meteorological Service of Jamaica, lasted for about two hours and flooded several streets in the capital, grinding traffic to a halt. In a matter of minutes, the roadway had turned into a violent river.

As water levels rose, Lincoln and Barbara debated whether to press on or turn back like others had done. But the decision was made for them.

“I looked in the mirror on my side – the passenger side – and I didn’t see any cars behind, because by that time all the cars were turning back or trying to get out of the situation,” Barbara recalled.

The car was quickly swept up by the current.

“I said to him, ‘You can reverse. There’s no car behind you’. And he put the car in reverse,” she said.

But Lincoln could not reverse.

“We were going front ways, back ways, sideways,” Barbara said. “We hit the wall, then the light pole. The car ended up on the sidewalk across from The Summit.”

She began praying

She began praying, begging God to send angels to rescue them.

Moments later, the vehicle was swept backwards again – this time slamming into a stationary SUV.

With the water now up to her window, Barbara urged her husband that they needed to get out of the vehicle, even as the thought occurred to her that she could not swim.

She was unable to open her door due to the height of the water.

“He was able to open his door. I climbed over to the driver’s side and got out. When I stood up, the water was at my waist,” she recalled.

That’s when they saw Sasha Bartley, who had seen the couple’s car spinning out of control from the nearby Summit complex.

Bartley held both Barbara and Lincoln and guided them through the flood to a closed metal gate at the entrance to the former Knutsford Court Hotel. They would have to climb over.

Barbara wasn’t able to, finding nowhere on the gate to anchor her feet.

A woman behind the gate urged them to try reaching the fire escape around the back.

While helping them navigate the water, Bartley was struck in the leg by a submerged metal object, causing a deep gash. Despite the pain, she continued holding on to the couple.

“I could hear her saying to him, ‘Something in the water. Don’t walk there.’ She hung on to both of us, took us by the side and took us upstairs and had us come down here [inside the Summit complex],” Barbara said.

Inside, other residents tried to make the couple comfortable, even searching for towels as Barbara began to shiver from the cold. However, concern soon shifted back to Bartley, who had collapsed in pain on the ground, her leg bleeding heavily.

But she soon had to get up, Barbara recalled, mentioning that the water had begun to breach the doors to the building in which they had taken refuge.

They stood on concrete flower boxes until the water subsided.

DARING RESCUE MISSION

Bartley, who has seen flooding in the area before, told The Sunday Gleaner this was the worst she’s ever witnessed.

She was checking on cars in the complex when she noticed the couple’s car spinning.

Instantly, she thought to herself, “This is not good. This is not good.”

While rushing to get to them, Bartley said she cautioned another motorist to abort her journey, telling her that she would not be able to manage the raging waters.

Bartley said as she was fighting through the waters and got close to the car, but it began spinning, crashing into walls and a light pole.

She was forced to retreat, fearing that the water would have swept her away.

“The water was heavy. I couldn’t stay out there. If I was staying out there, I would wash away,” she said.

From another vantage point inside the complex, she looked again but couldn’t see the vehicle.

“When I look, I don’t see nothing. I thought the car sank. So then I start freaking out in my head. I say, ‘What the hell is going on?’ So I end up running, back around [then] I saw the car up in the middle of the space there (Summit entrance). So I had a chance to help them,” she recalled.

A 23-second video of the incident, now viral on social media, shows the couple’s red car drifting toward a black SUV as Bartley wades into the floodwaters.

She later sought medical treatment for her leg injury.

CALL FOR ACTION

The Robinsons and Bartley are now calling on the authorities to urgently address the recurring flooding problem in the area, noting that the outcome could have been different.

Barbara believes it was divine intervention.

The couple said not once did they scream while trapped in the car – they just prayed.

“It is a miracle. God sent somebody to help us because she came out there waist-high in the water,” the woman said, sharing that she and her husband were “terrified” but never felt at any point that they would die.

“I didn’t have time to think about that. Because all I’m saying, ‘God, rescue us. You have to send an angel down’,” she said.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com