Family saved from floodwaters

PORTALES — Dozens of automobiles were under water in Portales on Saturday after more than 2 inches of rain fell in about an hour.

Tow-truck driver Ryan Ainsworth said he was involved in pulling 46 vehicles to safety, including one that contained a mother and two children floating down a city drainage canal.

The family was not injured, thanks in part to fate, Ainsworth said.

The drainage canal's safety gates are typically closed, Ainsworth said, but for reasons unknown they were open when the flood waters swept through.

“(That) was kind of a blessing in my opinion,” Ainsworth said. “Because if the gates were closed, it would have pinned that car against those gates, and then there would have been no way of getting her out without breaking a window — which then in turn would have filled the car full of water.”

“The gates somehow were open, and allowed them to float down the river,” Ainsworth said.

Ainsworth, who recorded the action and posted the video to his Facebook page, pulled the car out of the water after other rescue workers helped the family to safety.

Ainsworth said the woman and children — who asked not to be identified — retrieved things from the vehicle on Monday and “are doing excellent.”

“While they were in the car, the car had a little bit of water inside. The kids stayed dry,” Ainsworth said.

Portales Fire Department Battalion Chief Hugh Frank and others “utilized rope rescue equipment ... to safely and effectively rescue” the family, according to a news release from the fire department.

“No one was injured or transported to the hospital,” the release said. “The calm demeanor of the mother and her children greatly assisted in this rescue.”

Ainsworth said the floodwater “was waist deep and ice cold,” and he towed vehicles from mid-afternoon Saturday until 3:30 a.m. Sunday.

“I went home, took a shower, and got warm. Slept a couple of hours and at 8 o'clock I got the first call to come back out to start helping again,” Ainsworth said.

He said about two dozen of the vehicles he towed to safety had people trapped inside.

At one point, he said he pulled 15 cars off of a single street.

Ainsworth, who works for A 5 Towing & Recovery, said he's ready for another bout of severe weather, which is forecast throughout this week.

“We are supposed to get another round of storms here in a little bit,” Ainsworth said on Tuesday.

“I'm always ready. My pickup is full of diesel.”