Written by RICWA
February 9, 2024
December 21, 2023 2:39 pm
Written By: Madison Crowley
SMITHFIELD, R.I. (WLNE) — Earlier this week, two members of Veolia North America’s Smithfield team rescued a 79-year-old man whose car was flooded and swept away by heavy winds exceeding 50 mph Monday night, an ABC6 viewer has shared.
Jose Paralta Monzon and Thomas McGee were returning from inspecting a pump station during the storm, when they noticed the abandoned car stuck on an access road.
After further investigation, they had realized that there was an elderly man clinging to a rock and struggling to tread waist-deep water.
The Veolia workers waded into the current and rescued the stranded driver, bringing him to safety.
Monzon shared, “Instincts took over and I’m happy everything worked out.”
McGee noted, “We were at the right place at the right time and hopefully anyone else would have done the same.”
The man was taken into the Smithfield Wastewater Treatment Facility where he was reunited with his family.
