A North Texas teenager described being rescued from fast-moving flood waters, clinging to debris for over an hour when the float he was riding on flipped over.
Fossil Creek rose quickly during heavy rain in North Richland Hills Wednesday night and 16-year-old Jadon Gomez had to hang onto a log for an hour-and-a-half while crews worked to reach him.
Gomez's father is a Denton firefighter, who has responded to several water rescue scenes. But it was a very different thing when it was his own son stranded on Fossil Creek while rafting with friends. They didn't realize the water was about 10-feet higher than usual with a swiftly-moving current.
When you're 16, you're invincible and dad's advice doesn't always sink in.
"I tell him about calls we've gone on where we've unfortunately had to find victims that didn't survive," said his father, Andy Gomez.
"I just never really would have pictured it happening to me," Jadon Gomez said.
But his Wednesday night float with friends ended in a swift-water rescue. Jadon Gomez said he was trying to grab a branch to slow down, when his raft flipped.
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"The water just flipped my boat over, and I was completely sucked under by the current," he said.
He struggled to the surface, grabbed a log and held on.
"I was just kinda in shock on how much the rapids took my strength away and how exhausted I was," Jadon Gomez said.
The North Richland Hills Fire Department posted a video of swift-water rescue crews going in after him. It shows how quickly their boat was moving in the current. When Jadon Gomez finally made it back to land, it was pure relief.
"Growing up with my dad as a firefighter, I've had a lot of respect for them and I've always kinda looked up to them," he said. "I was just very, very happy that they got me in the end."
Of course, his dad was waiting on shore with a big hug and a message of "I told you so."
"I think he might have gotten one in the back of the ambulance," Andy Gomez said with a laugh.
Now he hopes other "invincible" kids will learn a lesson of how quickly a calm creek bed can turn to raging rapids and how little you can do against that power.
"It doesn't really matter how strong you can swim, how fit you are. You can get taken away," Andy Gomez said. "Thank God for that log."
Jadon Gomez was not hurt, and neither were his friends. Firefighters said they did the right thing calling for emergency help and waiting for the professionals to save Jadon.
The swift-water rescue crews came from North Richland Hills, Haltom City and Hurst.
