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Tucson flooding: Female cyclist sucked underwater while trying to cross bridge, scary rescue video goes viral
A 20-year-old female cyclist survived miraculously after being sucked underwater while trying to cross a flooded Tucson, Arizona bridge.
A female cyclist survived miraculously after being sucked underwater while trying to cross a flooded Tucson, Arizona bridge. The 20-year-old woman had to be revived with CPR.
A shocking eyewitness video of the woman has gone viral on social media.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Office responded to a water rescue at Sabino Canyon Thursday, August 13, after the woman tried to ride her bike across a bridge as raging floodwaters surged through the area. Authorities said that the rushing water swept the woman and her bike underneath the bridge.
What the video shows
The video shows the woman struggling to escape after getting trapped in a hole, KOLD reported. She is then suddenly seen getting sucked beneath the churning water.
A woman who tried to help was swept downstream, and the rescue attempt turned into another emergency. Good Samaritans eventually rescued the victims, pulling them from the water.
The 20-year-old woman was reportedly unresponsive after being rescued. She needed CPR and eventually survived the ordeal.
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The video shows several people rushing to help her and trying to pull her out. The woman who was swept away while trying to help was dragged downstream some 100 feet before she was rescued.
“She takes a step back from the rescue efforts as others are trying to say, and she goes underwater and disappears,” Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said. “And the video pans out to the right downstream, and that tunnel that she disappeared into literally just threw her out another 100 feet down.”
“That’s how powerful that force is,” Nanos added.
The first woman was rescued only after she had been underwater for several minutes. Two people were taken to a local hospital and were later said to be in a stable condition, the office said in a post.
Nanos said that the situation could have been worse.
“What if that tunnel had been clogged? What if she bangs her head? It’s just, you can ‘what if this to death,’ but the real issue is simply don’t do it,” Nanos said.
“PCSD reminds our community: Never attempt to cross flooded washes, whether on a bike, in a vehicle, or on foot,” a post from the department read. “Fast‑moving water is extremely dangerous and puts you and first responders at risk.”
The canyon is located northeast of Tucson where there have been monsoon storms.
