Sheffield flood drama: Passers-by smashed window to rescue man from sinking car in flash flood

A man was rescued from a sinking car in Sheffield last night by passers-by who smashed their way in using a brick.

Sheffield was hammered by torrential rain yesterday evening (June 18) when a thunderstorm broke out at around 7pm and causing localised flooding on roads across the city.

Today, it has emerged how a man had to be rescued from his car after he mistakenly drove into 5ft-deep water that pooled under the railway bridge on Worksop Road.

Eyewitness Maxwell Marie, 38, from Manor, told The Star how up to a dozen people scrambled to help the driver as his Mercedes sank into the water.

She said: “I was coming back from my daughter’s in the rain when I saw this car had stopped on Worksop Road, and up ahead another car was just sinking into the water. I could see the back of the car sticking out of the water. Another man was there saying ‘there’s someone inside, he’s stuck inside’.

“We could all hear him shouting ‘get me out, get me out’. The water was so dirty. It was really scary. A guy was running around asking ‘have you got anything to smash the back window?’

“A man came running over to me and said ‘I’ve got a brick, what do I do?’ I said, ‘just throw it through the window’.

“Next thing I saw a hand just appear out the back window. It was so relieving. Two guys helped get him out. A couple of seconds after we got him out the car just sank to the bottom.”

Marie said the driver – a man in his late sixties or early 70s – told passers-by he had forgotten his glasses that day and didn’t realise the water was so deep when he drove through it.

Marie said: I think he was in shock. Everyone asked if they could give him a lift but he just left and said he was going to walk home and left.

“The fire brigade arrived, we told them no one was inside and they thanked us.”

A dramatic photo by Marie shows how only the boot of the car was left sticking out of the deep water, which has drained away as of today.