Rescuers Free Trapped Drivers as Flash Floods Submerge Cars Under Nahatan Street Bridge-October 4, 1979

“I was drowning in there. The water was up to my neck,” Mary Bartucca said yesterday after being rescued from her sinking car in nearly six feet of swirling floodwater trapped beneath the railroad bridge on Nahatan Street.

Sudden Downpour and Rapid Submergence

Mrs. Bartucca, a resident of 18 Sturtevant Avenue, was driving under the railroad bridge during an intense early evening rainstorm when her vehicle stalled in the deepening basin. As water rapidly poured in, she struggled to roll down her car window to escape.

Witnessing the unfolding peril from a nearby embankment, Paul Rielly, 21, of 14 Garfield Avenue, instantly plunged into the chest-high water. He was joined by Jerry Olichew, a newcomer to Norwood who had just moved into town that day. Together, they waded through the hazard to reach Mrs. Bartucca.

Once freed from her car, the woman in her 60s waded through the water holding her pocketbook high. Reaching a five-foot-high concrete wall along the sidewalk, she was pulled to safety by J. Michael McGorty and James O. Welch, reporters from the nearby Patriot Ledger office.

By the time the storm subsided, Mrs. Bartucca’s car had stopped floating in the 50-foot-long pool beneath the bridge and was completely submerged. Employees from Bimbo’s Wrecker Service were forced to dive underwater to hook cables to the vehicle before it could be hauled out. Traffic on Nahatan Street remained blocked for three hours while municipal drainage cleared the water.

Second Rescue Involves Westwood Motorist

Moments earlier, Alice McMinn of Wildwood Drive in Westwood was driving east toward Star Market when her Volkswagen station wagon stalled under the bridge while the water was still hubcap-deep. The torrential downpour quickly swamped the vehicle, causing it to float like a bobbing boat as water breached the floorboards.

“The water was up to my neck,” Ms. McMinn recalled.

Rielly waded back into the deep water—which reached his shoulders despite his 6:5 frame—alongside the Bimbo’s wrecker driver. With Ms. McMinn pushing from inside and the two men pulling the jammed door from outside, she was successfully freed and half-carried to the safety of the sidewalk.

Both Ms. McMinn and Mrs. Bartucca were escorted to The Patriot Ledger office for temporary refuge, hot coffee, and a chance to collect themselves. Despite the danger, both women maintained remarkable good spirits.

Ms. McMinn laughed, saying, “I’m coming home without the cupcakes, and my spaghetti and… without my car.” Mrs. Bartucca quipped, “Now my husband can go buy a new car. He’s been wanting one so now he has an excuse.”

A Rough Introduction to Norwood for New Residents

For Carol and Jerry Olichew, the flash flood provided a harrowing climax to an already exhausting moving day. After living out of hotels and motels since leaving Michigan a month prior, the couple had just finished moving into their Windsor Gardens apartment yesterday.

Their late-model Toyota was being towed by Bimbo’s wrecker due to a dead battery (having also been struck earlier by a forklift) when traffic stopped abruptly under the bridge. Directly behind them was the couple’s Ford van, bearing Michigan plates and the ironic motto “Great Lake State.” All three vehicles were swiftly engulfed when a leading car stalled, stopped, and then drove off.

“I don’t believe how fast it came up,” Carol said, emotionally drained as she rested in her husband’s arms after a day of non-stop trials.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger