Cries for help lead game warden to Florida woman stuck in flooded car, Maine cops say

Cries for help in the dark along Maine’s Crooked River led rescuers to a Florida tourist stuck in her flooded car, according to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife.

The rescue happened around 11:20 p.m. Monday, May 1, in Waterford, about 140 miles southwest of Bangor. The identity of the 76-year-old driver has not been released.

Investigators say she was discovered when Game Warden Harry Wiegman was driving past the river and saw a car “stuck with water about halfway up the doors.”

“He heard a woman yelling for help from inside of the car,” the department said in a news release.

“Wiegman carefully made his way towards the vehicle where he found the woman. (She was) hypothermic from the river water that had filled the vehicle halfway up the doors, disoriented from the cold, and unable to describe how she got stuck or how long she was there.”

After making sure she could walk, Wiegman slipped the woman into a personal flotation device and pulled her from the car. The two then made their way through the swift water with Wiegman “tightly holding her onto his body and shielding her from the current.”

He then returned to the flooded vehicle to find the woman’s medication and belongings, officials said.

“After being examined by EMS on scene, the woman was released, and Warden Wiegman drove her back to Poland where she was staying,” officials said.

This story was originally published May 4, 2023 at 7:51 AM with the headline "Cries for help lead game warden to Florida woman stuck in flooded car, Maine cops say."