CLEVELAND — A handful of car owners have a major cleanup job to deal with after their vehicles became saturated with mud in Cleveland.
It happened on Ivanhoe and Euclid Avenue Sunday evening after heavy rains and storms swept through the area and flooded the street.
When the water receded, thick mud and debris remained, including all over the vehicles.
Lieutenant Mike Norman with the Cleveland Fire Department tells 3News' Isabel Lawrence their team rescued seven people — including six adults and a toddler — from four vehicles in the incident. When 3News was on scene Monday morning, crews saw five cars stranded in the mud under a railway overpass.
"Fortunately we had no injuries, Technical Rescue 1 and Ladder 31 were able to go out there and do a nice job, but it's really important that people avoid those situations," Norman said, adding that people should turn around and find a detour if they see standing water on the roadway, rather than trying to drive through it.
Norman said crews on scene told him the water was about six feet deep, and Technical Rescue 1 was able to use a boat to get people to safety from their cars.
"They pulled a couple people off the roofs of those vehicles," he said. "The water had risen to such a level that that was the only opportunity for safety, was to be actually on top of the vehicle, and luckily, Cleveland firefighters were able to come and rescue them."
One of the people rescued was Reginald Fomby, who said he was driving home in the car he had just bought on Friday, when suddenly he was in the water. Fomby said it was pitch black outside, and he didn't see the water until it was too late.
"The water kept rising, rising, so I finally climbed out the window and got on the top of the hood of the car,” he said. From there, Cleveland firefighters got him into their boat, and EMTs took him home.
Waiting at home in the dark with no power due to the storms, and knowing her husband should have been home by then, was his wife, Kim Fomby.
"Something is desperately wrong, he needs to be home," Kim recalled thinking Sunday night.
While her husband got home safely, their brand new car was covered in mud and damaged, stuck against a pole and side of the road. On Monday morning, the couple was waiting for a tow truck to arrive. They also voiced frustrations towards the city, who they say should fix this section of road to prevent flooding problems.
"I’m thankful that I didn’t drown or nothing like that, that nobody got hurt or nothing like that, but after today, reality’s going to set in on what I don’t have, and what I need to do and what I can’t do," Fomby said. "I can’t work because I don’t have a car."
Lt. Norman says nobody was hurt.
Today's weather seems more promising. Get your latest forecast, HERE.
MORE FROM WKYC:
MORE HEADLINES:
MORE VIDEOS FROM WKYC: