First Responders Rescue Mother, Family Trapped In Ottawa County Creek

A chilling 911 call helps tell the story of a mother whose family was trapped in an Ottawa County creek.

The family's vehicle got swept into the water with five passengers inside – three of them small children.

"The car’s under the water and we need help...I've got my kids and my grandma,” the woman said.

The mother frantically called 911 while trying to hold onto her young children.

"It's very cold and my grandmother is very sick...it's wet...I've got a 6, a 3 and a 1 year old," she said.

The dispatcher tried to get the mother to calm down.

“I'm still in the water, my grandma's in the water, I've got my kids on the top, one of my kids is on this tree,” the woman said.

At one point, she told the dispatcher the tree her son was clinging too was starting to break.

Dispatcher: “Can he get over to the car with you?”
Woman: “I…I can't let go of my other babies!”

The woman was driving down a road when she got swept into the creek; neighbors said the water was over 5-feet high.

Firefighters with the Afton Fire Department were the first to arrive. Soon after, Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Micah Stinnett pulled up.

He couldn't get close, so he parked his car and walked about 100 yards to them.

"You could tell she was hanging onto one child, completely exhausted, and everyone appeared to be in very bad shape. It was 37 degrees and raining," he said.

Stinnett said he knew they had to work fast.

"We've got to get them out, we can't let anyone die," he said.

An Afton firefighter walked on a log to the tree where the suburban was lodged.

"He would tie a rope on each person, kids first, and he would hand them off to us and we would walk back to the edge of the creek," Stinnett explained.

Stinnett said they all were in a hypothermic state and that he carried the grandmother out of the creek.

"I get to the fence and I'm thinking, ‘how am I supposed to get over this barbed wire fence,’ and right then, two or three civilians ran up and took her from me and to the ambulance," he said.

Tuesday, the water level in the creek finally got low enough to tow the vehicle out, but there were big ruts left behind from the tires.

The family was all released from the hospital over the weekend. We’re told they are back in Kansas.