Video shows people trapped in elevator as flooding waters rise.
A Nebraska man and two others nearly drowned Saturday night as neck-high floodwaters filled the elevator of his downtown Omaha apartment building, terrifying video shows.
The following written content from David Mayer
Tony Luu and friends hopped on the lift around 10 p.m. to observe the damage wrought by ongoing hail and flash floods, he said — only to find themselves stuck in it on the ground floor as water rushed in from the lobby.
“Once it got to my stomach, we kind of figured, ‘OK, this is real,’” Luu told ABC News.
“It was like something out of a movie.”
Video recorded by Luu’s friend shows him vaping when the elevator jolts and water rushes in from below and the closed doors.
Later, when the floods have nearly submerged them, Luu’s friend — whose head is barely above the water line — appears to be on the phone with emergency services, telling them to hurry.
The pals managed to pry the door open before first responders got there, and escape along with the many gallons of water, ABC said.
By that point, Luu had been standing on the elevator’s railing to avoid going under, according to the report.
Luu’s friend Daylon Guy told the Omaha World-Herald that four others were stuck in another elevator in the same building. He said no one in either elevator required medical treatment.Luu’s friend Daylon Guy told the Omaha World-Herald that four others were stuck in another elevator in the same building. He said no one in either elevator required medical treatment.
“It was pretty traumatizing, but they seemed to be doing well,” he told the paper. Read more from NYPost
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Storm devastates downtown Omaha
The following written content from Zach Williamson
It didn’t take long for the storm to make its impact Saturday night. Heavy rains turned into devastating flash floods.
“Fifteen years and I’ve never seen anything like it,” Rowhouses at Soma resident John Thomas said.
“I had a birds-eye view from the ninth floor watching all of this,” Old Market Lofts resident Richard Berkland said. “I’ve never seen rain that fast coming down to an area that can’t absorb the water.”
“We were just hosting an event here and the light started to flicker,” Vintage Ballroom operator Rebekah Pasqualetto said. “We knew it was raining but we didn’t know how bad it was, so once the light started to flicker, we came outside and saw the river at the intersection.”
Vehicles were flooded, totaled, and stranded.
“There were a lot of people out around the Old Market at restaurants who were trying to get to their cars. A lot of people here that couldn’t leave because their cars were flooded, so they were just waiting it out for the water to drain a bit,” Pasqualetto said. “A lot of my staff’s cars were flooded as well.”
Streets and landscapes were ripped up and ruined.
“It’s a long slope downhill, so it brought all the debris,” Berkland said. “There’s some construction projects up a couple blocks and all of that debris is sitting here in the intersection.” Read more from 3News
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