JERSEYVILLE - On Tuesday, July 16, 2024, at 11:58 a.m., the Jersey County Sheriff’s Office (JCSO) responded to a 911 call from a 70-year-old male who advised he was trapped in his car in flash flood waters on Beltrees Road, east of Fessler Road near Mill Creek, in rural Jersey County just outside of Elsah, Illinois.
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The caller said that another vehicle behind him on Beltrees Road was also trapped in the waters and that he observed an elderly male in the rushing water outside of the second vehicle. Numerous JCSO personnel, along with first responders from multiple agencies, responded to the scene. Upon arrival in the area, JCSO personnel, finding the area flooded and impassable by car, had to navigate on foot around and through several high water areas in order to reach the caller. By that time, the caller was standing on the roof of his vehicle as the waters continued to rise above his feet. The second vehicle was completely submerged.
Other first responders arrived in the area and coordinated efforts to get to the trapped caller, who was ultimately saved as the waters receded. The caller told responding personnel that he last observed the elderly male in the water outside of the second vehicle trying to swim in the swift current.
Emergency personnel combed the area trying to locate the elderly male from the second vehicle. As the water lever continued to come down, a deceased 88-year-old woman was found in the second vehicle and recovered, while a search of the area continued for the missing male from the same vehicle.
At 3:36 p.m., Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) Conservation Police Officers, searching the area by boat, located a deceased 88-year-old male along the bank of Mill Creek.
"It was later determined that the two decedents were husband and wife," Jersey Sheriff Nick Manns said. "Our hearts and prayers go out to their family and loved ones as they work through this tragedy."
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