NEWTON COUNTY, Mo. — Water rescues continued to take place during the early morning hours Friday (5/6), including one that involved several people who were trapped in their mobile homes by rising flood waters.
Just after 2:00 a.m., water rescue crews with the Redings Mill Fire Department were called to Riverside Campground, located along the banks of Shoal Creek near McClelland Boulevard and Coyote Drive in Newton County.
The initial call came from a woman living in that campground, who reported to dispatchers that water had surrounded her mobile home and was approaching the front door.
When water rescue crews arrived, they launched a paddle raft into the flooded banks of Shoal Creek, located the woman, and secured her safely inside the raft.
Before rescue crews could row back to dry ground with the woman, they realized that several mobile homes nearby were occupied with residents needing to escape the rapidly rising water, as well.
It took several trips for water rescue crews to get eight people (five men and three women) out of six mobile homes located in Riverside Campground.
SLIDESHOW: Early Morning Water Rescue Along Shoal Creek, South of Joplin
Fire crews also rescued nearly a dozen animals from those six mobile homes, and brought them to safety.
Each mobile home in the area was checked for anyone who may have still been inside.
At least two separate mobile home residents in Riverside Campground, refused to be taken to higher ground by those in the rescue raft.
At 4:00 a.m., two hours after the water rescues started, all crews with the Redings Mill Fire Department were out of the water and clear of the scene.
None of the residents saved from their homes, or those with the Redings Mill Water Rescue Team, required on-scene medical attention and all were unharmed.
