A lifeboat was called to assist in the rescue
Friday, November 25, 2011
1:57 PM
A MOTORIST who took a risk with the tide while trying to get to Mersea Island became stranded on top of his car.
Firefighters, lifeboat crews and the coastguard were called to rescue the man who had become stuck on the Causeway just after 11am this morning.
“This is a regular occurrence on the Causeway with people taking risks with their lives,” said Station Officer Jon Mussett.
“Because of the life risk, we have to use a lot of resources simply because people are not willing to heed the warnings.
“When we arrived at the scene, only the roof was visible with the man on the top.”
By 11:30am Mr Mussett reported that crews were standing by as the water level was on its way back down.
The casualty remained on the roof of the vehicle and was unharmed.
The incident was dealt with by about noon and the casualty was brought to safety by the Coastguard and taken to the Lifeboat hut at Mersea to warm up.
After the water level had gone down the vehicle, a family saloon, was recovered from the roadway.
Police were called to close the road temporarily as motorists were still continuing to drive across the Causeway despite seeing the stranded vehicle.
“Our advice would be, if you can’t see the clear road ahead, don’t drive onto the Causeway,” said Mr Mussett.
“People get caught out time and again at this spot and the dangers are well known locally, yet impatience gets the better of these drivers and they go on regardless of the consequences.
“It’s only an hour’s wait, once in the morning and once in the evening - the risk isn’t worth it.
“We get called here time and again and one day someone won’t be so lucky.”