Deputy Thomas Forkum with the Stoddard County Sheriff's Department was at the office a little after 8 p.m. Saturday evening completing paperwork like any other shift.
Following the heavy rain and storms in the area, a dispatch call came from 911 of people trapped in a vehicle that was swept off Highway K at Highway M near Leora in Northern Stoddard County.
"I got in my vehicle to head out and it escalated from there," Forkum said.
Sheriff Carl Hefner also responded to the call but could not get to the vehicle's location from Highway K because of water over the road.
Faced with the same obstacles, Forkum said he was lucky and chose the right route to make it to the scene arriving by Highway M.
"I could see the lights (of the patrol car), but I couldn't get to them," Hefner said.
Once arriving on the scene, Forkum said he found a small section of dry highway about 200 yards away from the incident.
"I knew I couldn't stay long," Forkum said of the quickly rising water near his patrol car.
He saw a Ford F-150 truck on its side while water was filling the cab.
Quickly emptying his pockets of his wallet, phone and other items, Forkum entered the waist deep, swiftly moving water to reach a man and woman inside the cab of the truck.
"I couldn't see my boots through the water," Forkum said. "I had a flashlight I shined in the water and saw a snake coming toward me."
Admitting he began to panic a little, Forkum stayed on task to rescue the couple.
"He didn't panic, kept a cool head and did his job," Hefner said of his deputy.
Once arriving at the truck, Forkum said the male passenger had begun to open the door as the female driver was still on the phone with 911.
"She was absolutely hysterical and rightfully so," Forkum said.
With the help of Forkum, the couple, who was said to be in their 70s, was able to climb out of the cab of the truck and make it to his patrol car.
Once arriving to the patrol car and calming the female driver down, the couple refused medical treatment at the scene.
"It was a highly stressful situation," Forkum said.
Hefner added the highway the truck was swept off floods often and stressed to motorists not to drive through water over a road.
"If water gets to the bottom of the running boards in a vehicle, the water can lift it up and carry it off," Hefner said. "You have no control then."
Several area rescue units were on their way to assist during the rescue, but once the couple was free, Forkum called to let them know to stay away from the area because of the quickly rising water.
He also called the Missouri Department of Transportation to let them know the road needed to be closed immediately. MoDOT reported they were already on their way as the incident unfolded.
"If I hadn't got there when I did, I don't know how it would have turned out," Forkum said. "I'm glad it went so well."
Hefner echoed Forkum's time estimate adding if it had been ten minutes later the situation "would have gotten really bad."
"We were dealing with seconds there," Hefner said. "I'm very proud of Deputy Forkum."