Fire officials say a father and his 14-month-old daughter were pulled from a car stuck in a flooded parking lot in Leominster.
Crews responded Monday morning to the Whitney Field Mall for a rescue call. Officials say the parking lot became flooded because the nearby Nashua River was unable to drain properly after torrential rain hammered the area overnight.
Matt Marcil, of Lunenburg, was driving his daughter Ava to daycare when he tried to navigate through an overflow area in the lot and became stuck. Firefighters had to pull Marcil and Ava from the sunken vehicle.
“It was a little scary because it was kind of like I was driving a boat with a roof,” Marcil said.
With his young daughter in the back seat, Marcil says he regained his cool and called 911.
“They were in dive gear almost,” Marcil said of the responding firefighters. “When they got there, the water was up to my chest bone. It was really, really deep.”
Marcil says Ava was calm in her car seat as the water rescue was taking place.
“We passed her through the window, but once she got out of the car, she was happy,” Marcil said. “It will be something I tell her on her wedding day.”
No one was injured. Marcil’s car was totaled.
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