OTTAWA — Three cars showed they weren’t very good boats Monday. High water at 15th and Poplar in Ottawa stranded one car Monday afternoon and the fire department was called to help out. Fire chief Jeff Carner said they helped the motorist out of the vehicle. The water had reached a foot deep in the vehicle, he said. Fifteenth and Poplar frequently floods during times of heavy rain. Later, Lauren Perez-Engel, 20, Pomona, was driving west in the 2000 block of Labette Road when when she went through high water and hydro-planed. The Franklin County Sheriff’s office said her car slid into the south ditch and was submerged by water. Lincoln-Ottawa-Harrison fire chief Jim Stonequist said his department was called out Monday afternoon to rescue a third motorist who drove into water across the road at Thomas Road and Stafford Terrace.
Stonequist said the motorist escaped before firefighters could reach the scene.
