SIDNEY – Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope reports that on Friday emergency personnel were called to the 3000 block of 250th Street west of Riverton, Iowa, for two people that were trapped in the flood water and were hanging on to trees.
At approximately 9:52 p.m. the Fremont County Dispatch Center was called by a citizen that was checking the flood waters and could hear people yelling for help.
The citizen called 911 and reported the information and emergency personnel were immediately dispatched to the scene.
The responding units used a boat to get to the two subjects clinging to the trees and extracted them from the icy water.
55-year-old Aleido Rojas Galan from Norfolk, Neb., was one of the subjects that was submerged in the water.
Galan was life flighted to Byran West Hospital in Lincoln, where he succumb to injuries.
50-year-old Santiago Morosta, also of Norfolk, was the other man that was pulled from the water. Morosta was able to pull himself into a tree to get his torso out of the water.
Morosta was still being treated in Omaha at the med center for his injuries by Saturday.
While emergency personnel were working to retrieve the Galan and Morosta, another man was located about a half of mile west of Galan and Morosta’s location.
52-year-old Juan Luis Quennons of Norfolk was located in a ditch near a residence trying to get warm.
Quennons was picked up by a deputy and then later transported by the Iowa State Patrol to Grape Community Hospital. He was later later transferred to Omaha Med center.
Investigators say the three men were traveling eastbound on 250th Street and drove around a road closed barrier and continued until they hit the flood water. Their car was swept away by the current and Sheriff Aistrope says they had no choice but to try and swim to safety.
The three individuals were traveling from Norfolk to Florida to see family.
Fremont County deputies were assisted by the following units: Iowa DNR, Sidney Fire and Rescue, Hamburg Fire and Rescue, Riverton Fire and Rescue, LifeNET, Iowa State Patrol, and Montgomery County EMA.
