ATLANTA — Heavy rain caused flooding Saturday morning that trapped a driver in her car in southwest Atlanta.
Channel 2’s Steve Gehlbach says the woman was driving when her car stalled in the middle of the water on Lakewood Way, a small road that runs to a production studio near Lakewood Amphitheater.
The white Saturn got stuck in the thigh-high flooded water. Princess Irvin says she didn’t know how deep it was when she drove through and had to call 911 for help to get out.
"It was low like that, then I didn't realize there was a bunch of water and it kept coming up,” she said.
The car stalled, and water came up to the doors started pouring in.
“Then I was panicking,” said Irvin.
She called 911 and Atlanta police officers arrived to help.
"They told me to get out of the car, and then I fell in the water,” she said. “They got a drain problem. They really got to fix it."
Fellow driver Earnest Russell was able to make it through, even after the water stalled out his pickup.
“I just let it ease on through and I made it,” he told Gehlbach.
Tow truck operators, getting a little wet themselves, were able to hook up the car and begin to pull it out, and then push it out of the water.
Irvin says her ordeal is a good reminder to others, not to drive through standing water.
“Just try to find another way to go,” she said.
Atlanta police clocked Lakewood Way with yellow police tape so no other drivers can attempt to drive through the water.
In other parts of town, crews were cleaning up fallen trees and power lines knocked down by the rain.
On Lindbergh drive in Northeast Atlanta, a tree fell on top of a moving car. A woman on the scene who spoke with the driver told us the driver was shaken up, but uninjured.
In Virginia Highlands, a tree fell on top of a Jeep parked on the side of the road and in southeast Atlanta, a tree fell on a home, causing damage to the roof.
Saturday afternoon, Georgia power was reporting nearly 1,000 power outages in Fulton County.
WSBTV
