Many areas in the metro flood every time it rains, including the bridge near 12th and Elmwood.
It's an area which neighbors KC Windustrial, a commercial plumbing company.
“Every time it rains, for the most part with the large rains we've been having, it seems to flood,” Monty Betterton with KC Windustrial said.
“You just expect it, so it's just something you come to deal with,” said Matthew Miller, a regular customer at KC Windustrial.
Betterton said being so close to that area, it’s a common problem he sees, which causes rerouting and other issues.
“If you're not familiar, you gotta go about four or five blocks out of your way to get here,” Betterton said. “The plumbing whole sale business is extremely tied to our customers, and our customers are very fast paced companies because of emergencies: water main breaks, gas lines, irrigation systems. So when our customers can't get to us in a timely fashion, or we can't deliver in a timely fashion, it does cause lead time issues.”
Earlier Wednesday morning, two water rescues happened on 12th and Elmwood.
“Both of the motorists tried to get through it; it didn't happen. Fire assisted the occupants in getting out of the vehicle,” KCPD Officer Giuseppe Trombino said.
Trombino said he sees incidents like these happen every time there’s a heavy downpour.
“It's been almost 28 years that I've seen this happen,” Trombino said. “Some places are just a little more prone than others and this happens to be one of them.”
It’s something that’s not a surprise to Betterton.
“There's probably going to be more because the average person that's not from around here, they don't realize how deep that water is,” Betterton said. “I have a Jeep and mine's lifted, and I won't go through it.”
Emergency crews want to remind everyone if you think the water may be too high, remember the saying, ‘Turn Around, Don’t Drown.’
“Don't take the chances of driving through it, because even though it may not be high enough for somebody to be injured,” Trombino said, "It could definitely be high enough to disable your vehicle and cause extensive damage to it.”
