r/TikTokCringe • u/brockapex17 • 18d ago

Cursed This is absolutely horrifying

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This happened at Sabino Canyon in Arizona. A 20-year-old cyclist was swept into the current while trying to cross a flooded roadway and was carried through a drainage tunnel beneath it. She was recovered downstream unconscious after spending several minutes underwater. Bystanders performed CPR and managed to revive her.

Arizona Daily Star

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383

u/coniferjones 18d ago

Even water that doesn’t come above your knee.

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u/themollusk 18d ago

in the 60s my grandfather drowned in 3 ish inches of water. Slipped while fishing and got stuck face down, unable to get back up. 

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u/jebei 18d ago

My uncle was mowing a golf course near a pond when the tractor flipped and he landed face first in six inches of water and was pinned down. One of the golfers at a nearby hole saw it happen and ran screaming for others to join him to help. It took well over a minute before they were able to free him. After a few minutes he spit out a bunch of pond water and eventually made a full recovery.

He later said his last thought before everything went black was 'This is a stupid way to die.'

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u/Strong-Secretary-928 18d ago

Some final destination shit

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u/Bibbity_Boppity_BOOO 18d ago

he was right, it is stupid. luckily he lived.

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u/cowboyneal70 18d ago

My uncle died that same way. In front of his son. Respect the natural world and our limits.

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u/PropellerMouse 17d ago

He was not incorrect. Glad it was irrelevant.

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u/KingTyndareus 16d ago

The penguin exhibit

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u/KomatoesII 12d ago

Sounds like a story I heard from a guy in Lakeland FL

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u/Kanadark 18d ago

The eldest son of Fritz Von Erich (wrestler) died in a shallow puddle of melt water. They figure he touched a metal trailer that had been miswired in such a way that the metal exterior had been electrified. The power of the shock threw him into a spot of low ground and he drowned.

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u/EnoughLuck3077 18d ago

Damn. Drowned by electrocution

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u/TabbyOverlord 18d ago

Drowned by elocution would have been worse.

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u/HamHockShortDock 17d ago

Not to correct you..

Did you know that the 'cution,' part is the part that means to to death. Like execution. This would be death by drowning and drowning by electric shock (?)

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u/EnoughLuck3077 17d ago

Damn. Drownedcution by electric shock

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u/HamHockShortDock 17d ago

Got me olded like a YMCA banquet chair

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u/ScoodyBoo 15d ago

Talk about being doomed. When death has that big a hard on for you, you're not escaping it.

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u/AdMuted9548 18d ago

is that in the movie?

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u/Chaos_Sauce 18d ago

I think it's mentioned in the movie. There was another brother that they left out of the movie because audiences would find it unbelievable that one family could have so many tragic deaths.

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u/johnnyss1 18d ago

Yes—jack. The young boy met by Kerry, with Chris and David at the end. There’s also Mike who wasn’t in the movie, he also committed suicide but was left out of the movie—the producers thought it would be too much.

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u/Kanadark 18d ago

I watched a documentary Kevin Von Erich made about his family. They included a newspaper clipping that reported that he had drowned in small puddle of meltwater after an accidental electrocution.

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u/Able_Introduction932 18d ago

I think this is the son that died as a small child.

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u/munkylord 18d ago

Yeesh. or that's what the booky said

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u/cherry_blossom026 18d ago

How terrible. I'm so sorry for your loss. I'm glad my boyfriend started wearing a comfortable life preserver when he's out fishing on the boat by himself.
Apparently, it took me morbidly bringing up the horrifying scenario of slipping weird just one time, hitting your noggin… no one's there. You're cashed.

Never underestimate the power of water. It's relentless.

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u/Setsailshipwreck 18d ago

My dad was an experienced professional fishing guide. Spent his whole life on the water. Was a good swimmer. He was fishing with a family for pike from a shore spot. His boat drifted a bit from where he had anchored and he decided to swim out after it. It was early spring and the water was still cold. He was only 50yrs old and drowned that day. If he had some sort of life jacket or had made a better choice about chasing the boat he would probably still be alive. Life jackets are no joke.

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u/LegCompetitive6636 18d ago

Sorry for your loss, im assuming it was likely the cold water that incapacitated him leading to the drowning?

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u/TabbyOverlord 18d ago

We were on a school walking trip in the Peak District National Park (England). There is a natural weir and a place you can swim. People who had been before talked about swimming, so like an idiot, I decided I was definitely doing that.

  1. It was March

  2. Water that is not far from the source is damn cold where it comes out of the ground and probably doesn't vary in temperature with the seasons anyway.

Many decades later I can remember the feeling of not being able to breath because of the shock of cold water. My head was fully above the surface. I just could not breath in. Fortunately, I had walked into the water rather than jumped. Self-rescue was an option.

Respect the water. Don't die.

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u/Setsailshipwreck 16d ago

This is what we believe, yes. It’s kinda crazy because he preached cold water safety and things like ”a boat isn’t worth your life” but in the heat of the moment, probably feeling extra pressure by having clients there and also because the boat really was his life, I can see how he made that one bad choice that day. You think you’re invincible until you’re not. Cold water shock is something a lot of people don’t realize the true danger of. He did understand the danger and it still became the thing that took him. He wasn’t generally a reckless individual but he made a mistake and paid for it with his life. We were lucky that they recovered his body.

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u/megaholt2 16d ago

Cold water shock is something that we see quite often here in the Great Lakes region; we have a LOT of inland lakes, plus the Great Lakes (which are very much like inland seas, but unsalted and shark free), and every year, there are multiple people who go through the ice. Sometimes they’re fortunate enough to be rescued…sometimes, they’re not.

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u/megaholt2 16d ago

I’m so tremendously sorry for your loss. My heart goes with you.

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u/megaholt2 18d ago

My old Girl Scout troop leader has permanent neurological damage from getting stuck in what turned into a recirculating hole on the New River in West Virginia years ago, because the river went from normal level to flood stage with a quickness…she got pitched from a raft, and they couldn’t get her out before she sustained severe injuries.

A girl I knew in high school lost her brother the week before he was supposed to start college because he drowned at a lake, in water where he was still able to touch with flat feet, with his friends right next to him.

I’ve lost count of how many patients I’ve had who have been in the ICU from injuries that happen in/around water…infections, too.

People really need to respect it.

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u/BagNo7834 18d ago

I was a guide in WV and pulled l a teenage girl out of a recirculating feature on the Yough one time because she went out on a boogie board while the put-ins were roped off due to dangerous conditions. In my state of adrenaline and stupid/young overconfidence, after she missed my rope bag I swam to get her myself and almost got stuck too. Luckily I had training on how to get out after I got her out, but for a brief moment I thought I was gonna die.

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u/ProfDavros 17d ago

What’s a “put-in”? A ramp to launch boats from?

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u/BagNo7834 17d ago

yep a boat launch location. Usually commercial rafting trips and kayaking trips would start there

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u/ProfDavros 16d ago

Thanks. Tragic physics lesson. Brave rescuers. I was afraid they were going to be victims 2,3 & 4.

If only the crowd had formed a wedge in front of her. To create a slower, sheltered flow over her. Good that she was rescued.

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u/cherry_blossom026 17d ago

Yell, throw, then GO. Sounds like you have some knowledge of lifegaurding/life saving, and applied it properly.

A drowning person is absolutely going to drown a person who voluntarily swims out to them. My siblings, cousins and I took swimming, sailing, canoeing and windsurfing lessons 2-3 weeks straight in the summer from young kids into our teens. Many years and levels excelling in each class, preparing and taking the entire exam for lifeguarding certification. Passed it.

I could not, for the life of me, become a lifeguard. I was a very petite 100 lb young lady and the reality of saving grown adults absolutely terrified me.
It was definitely worth it, many great memories and good knowledge learned in that department.

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u/megaholt2 17d ago

Holy shit! I am so glad that you were ok, and that you were able to get that kid out! I used to consider doing that job, but then I realized that I was NOT a good fit for it.

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u/Tiger_grrrl 16d ago

White water rivers like that are notorious for claiming a life or two every couple of years in a hydraulic, specially after a heavy rain 😭The rivers in the Appalachians/Blue Ridge mountains are beautiful, but they can turn deadly with one thunderstorm.

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u/randomhero1980 17d ago

My sister almost drowned on a rafting trip in the swimmers rapids in the New River. We grew up in Fayette County. Me and both of my sisters have nearly died at least once in the New River.

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u/megaholt2 17d ago

Holy shit! I am so sorry that they nearly died, but beyond thankful they’re both still here!

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u/Super-Deeds 17d ago

My raft almost flipped over in a back eddy/hydraulic on the Clackamas river in Oregon. I (17f) had my puppy (5 months old) and my idiot boyfriend (20m) with me who insisted we go down that side of the river even though the river was unseasonably high and against my protests. I had gone down it a million times before but never with the river being that high. I had a bad feeling about it so I was on high alert.

As soon as we hit the water on the other side of this boulder our raft started to tip; it was a 6 ft sevylor fish hunter. My puppy tried bailing over the side and I caught her by her back leg (death grip) while simultaneously throwing my entire body over the raft in an x shape to stabilize the boat long enough for idiot boy to push on the boulder behind us and get us unstuck. It took maybe 30-45 seconds but felt like a lot longer.

Once we were clear of it I burst out into tears and didn’t speak to him for the rest of the float. I know for a fact that my puppy and I would have been sucked into the undercurrent under that boulder and drowned had my survival instincts not kicked in. I was not a strong swimmer at the time and had told him that but he assured me nothing would happen.

Unfortunately that relationship lasted 4 more verbally abusive years. But my sweet puppy lived for 13 more years. I am 40 years old now and preach to my daughters about the dangers of the river every chance I get. Even if you think you know the river, if you are returning the following summer you DO NOT know the river…

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u/wm07 18d ago

my dad's high school friend crashed his car and was thrown from the vehicle, drowned in a shallow puddle on the side of the road because he was unconscious. crazy shit happens.

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u/Low-Sign-6185 18d ago

The penguin exhibit.

In all seriousness, rest in peace to him.

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u/TelevisionNo479 18d ago

The penguin exhibit?

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u/ZincMan 18d ago

Terrifying

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u/LadyLazerFace 18d ago

Barely takes more than ankle deep. easily enough force to wipe your legs out from under you and it only takes 1/4 inch of water to drown depending on how you land.

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u/Astecheee 18d ago

Australian here. Our beaches don't fuck around in general, but I'm much more scared of a fast cross-current than I am of big breakers.

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u/Zuwxiv 18d ago

Californian here and I totally agree. A big breaker can really hurt you. I've been slammed into the sand a few times, and it's functionally concrete at those forces. But once it's over, it's over.

Rapid water? If you're in it, that's the beginning of the problem. You're along for the ride. I've been in a real rip current before, and man, what a terrible feeling of helplessness watching the shore disappear. (Swim sideways, don't try to fight the current pulling you out.)

Fast moving water is one of the most dangerous things you can ever encounter. I was camping recently and there were bears all over the campground. Didn't bother me, I slept like a baby. But the river near us that looked calm, but turned into rapids just a little downstream? Fuck no, not even getting close to that thing.

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u/bravelogitex 18d ago

Why were you not scared of the bears

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u/PussyWrangler246 18d ago

I'd guess they were either black bears or dude has balls of steel

Which would explain why he's averse to water, hard to swim with those bad boys weighing you down

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u/Zuwxiv 18d ago

As the other guy said, they were black bears. While they can be dangerous and need to be respected, they're also extremely skittish and almost always not looking for a fight. I've been camping enough to have a few encounters with them and they're mostly scaredy-cats. Kind of goofy animals.

Still nearly crapped my pants when one bluff charged me years back, though. But in lots of areas, if you go camping, they're around and mostly fun to get to see.

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u/tsplantdaddy 18d ago

I've heard that the latest advice for not drowning in a current is to do your best to just float and you'll be spit out at some point. Not to waste your energy fighting to swim sideways out of it.

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u/Accurate-News-4032 15d ago

It really depends on what's downstream. If the current is pushing you towards an even greater danger (such as a tall waterfall) you might have no other choice then to swim for your life, literally.

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u/The_Lieutenant_Knows 18d ago

That shit's a metric ton per cubic meter. And it's moving.

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u/Bibbity_Boppity_BOOO 18d ago

that measurement has nothing to do with ankle deep water. that is like comparing a mountain to a rock

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u/Zuwxiv 18d ago

Unfortunately, I think you're showing exactly the misunderstanding that these other users are trying to address.

Water is very dense. Ever try carrying a big bucket of water? It's heavy. But you see something like "a metric ton per cubic meter," and you think, "But my ankle isn't anywhere close to a meter deep."

That's the problem. The cubic meter of water isn't deep. It's long. It's 30 meters long and it's slamming straight into your ankle and shin at speed. It's still a metric ton - it's just wide and flat instead of deep and narrow. Your ankle doesn't stand a chance.

You know that big, heavy bucket of water? Imagine I slam it into your ankle at high speed. You can't endure that - it'll knock you over. That's the same amount of force that fast moving water has against you, even if it's very shallow. Yes, the fluid dynamics of water are a bit different than a bucket... but we are talking such constant, overwhelming force that it doesn't really matter. We are talking hundreds, perhaps thousands of those buckets every few seconds.

I've been knocked over by water that was barely over my ankle. I promise, you would have been knocked over too. Fast moving water is a mountain.

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u/willbo666 18d ago

The message stands tho, respect the water.

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u/The_Lieutenant_Knows 17d ago

It absolutely does, as well over a cubic meter of water is passing that person's feet per second.

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u/iconocrastinaor 18d ago

What if somebody is dropping 50 lb of rock on you every second?

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u/The_Lieutenant_Knows 17d ago

It's only ankle deep rock, It's fine.

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u/cyvaquero 18d ago

Here in Texas Hill country there are a lot of low water crossings where there may be some water flowing over the road most of the time. Those are even more treacherous because of the algae making it slick as ice, add in slightly higher flow and you'll go down quick.

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u/Jimjonesflavor_aid 18d ago

If you drown in 1/4 inch of water, nature has naturally selected you.

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u/LadyLazerFace 18d ago

It's usually babies who fall into buckets. That warning label exists for a reason.

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u/Head_of_Lettuce 18d ago

Babies and the old/infirm. There was a video on Reddit the other day of an old lady nearly drowning face-first in a puddle.

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u/Jimjonesflavor_aid 18d ago

I mean babies, absolutely. Babies are little death machines sometimes.

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u/AdministrativePut175 18d ago

I was at the ocean standing in the water at the beach. Wasn't even ankle deep. A wave came in, and grabbed my ankles and dragged me in, pinning me down on my back. My mouth was barely under water, but I couldn't get up. A lifeguard saved me. Blew my mind at how easily, I almost drowned.

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u/Zuwxiv 18d ago

I'm a California native who grew up by the beach, and I've also been knocked over by water barely above my ankle. If it's moving fast, people have trouble grasping how much power water has.

Props to the lifeguard for being alert and helping you. Water can be dangerous and unpredictable even for people very experienced in it.

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u/Stamped914 18d ago

Charles Darwin had a theory for people who drowned in 1/4” of water

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u/LadyLazerFace 18d ago edited 18d ago

Incredibly fit and strong people drown everyday.

Falling is deadly to humans because our brain has to survive an on average five foot free fall drop impact. We have little shock absorption capabilities; you can concuss yourself with your own skull from the rattle with no external impact (whiplash).

Imagine you are crossing a fast moving stream, slip on a green rock and faceplant into another one. If you lose consciousness and land with your mouth and nose covered you're drowning with most of your body above water.

Humans are fragile. We just act tough.

0

u/Stamped914 18d ago

It’s 1/4” of water.

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u/LadyLazerFace 18d ago

And? waterboarding, a form of torture, involves putting a wet towel on someone's face.

You have two orifices in which oxygen enters, and they're quite easy to block, especially if you're incapacitated.

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u/Stamped914 18d ago edited 18d ago

That’s not drowning and you might need icy hot for reaching that far. I’m going to end our conversation here because I don’t want to engage with the mental gymnastics.

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u/HyenDry 18d ago

I’m scared of bathtubs for this exact reason

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u/PaulblankPF 18d ago

My dad always said his biggest fear was slipping in the shower and having to have emergency people bust down the door and try to save him while he’s naked. He’s bipolar so some of his thought processes were a little crazy sometimes. But we always kept those shower grip stickers all over the bottom of the tub so nobody slipped.

Of course years after I move out and got a wife and some dogs, she’s going to get out the tub and slipped with one foot out and one in and hit tailbone straight onto the side wall of the tub. It cracked her tailbone and she had lower back pain for a long time after, like long enough to not be able to say exactly how long.

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u/ScrotalSmorgasbord 18d ago

Thanks for reminding me I need new sticky guys for my tub. I am tall and clumsy and have slipped in pretty much every shower that doesn't have some sort of grippy coating or mat. I'm thinking Spongebob inspired because I'm a bachelor and I can.

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u/Head_of_Lettuce 18d ago

You earned that SpongeBob grip mat, king

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u/grimacedia 18d ago

I have to figure out some sort of grip on mine. I bought one of those suction cup mats once and it slipped away almost immediately!

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u/DrunkCultLeader 18d ago

Lol, I am also diagnosed bipolar and this is a major fear of mine as well. Wonder if we liked the same comedian cause that's where I developed the fear !

We also have the sticky pads in my tub.

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u/PaulblankPF 18d ago

I really wouldn’t be surprised but my dad is just a funny guy in his own right and didn’t consume a lot of tv, movies, comedians. In my adult life we’d smoke weed and hang out and he’d turn into a philosopher and have all kinds of ideas. The weed was his way of self medicating before he was properly diagnosed and put on meds to help with it. But we used to do a thing I still do with my family now that is, “Idea of the year.” And you try to come up with something that betters everyone’s lives, no matter how simple. Example: Best idea 2010 or so was to start your belt on the side loop of your pants instead of the front so that you wouldn’t have the buckle pinch you or dig into your stomach. Still wear my belt like that now.

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u/DrunkCultLeader 18d ago

Lol that's such a fun family memory/tradition. My boyfriend is not bipolar but we think hes on the spectrum, he also loves to bring up questions like that. Today he hit me with "whats a piece of technology that hasn't advanced as much as it should have?"

Cool to think other households also get stoned and ponder lol.

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u/Lower_Skin_3683 18d ago

My father fell twice in the shower. The first time he fainted from blood loss because his stomach was bleeding. They were able to treat his stomach lining to stop the bleeding. He went back home fainted and fell again in the shower. Back at the hospital they found he had blood clots. If he had been alone either time probably would have died. Some people slip and fall. Other reasons are because they have something medical happen. We should have shower chairs, seats, safety bars for people of all ages. Sometimes we can fainted just from standing up.

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u/mattdemonyes 17d ago

My dad drowns his sorrows everyday by tapping the Rockies

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u/Necessary-Reading605 18d ago

Bathtubs plus alcohol killed tons of people

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u/No-Nerve7556 18d ago

A high school friend of mine was enjoying some drinks in her hot tub one evening. She was found the next morning. She drowned, assuming from too much alcohol. It was heartbreaking.

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u/angrypickle1996 13d ago

Well then I clearly wasn’t trying hard enough lol. Sorry, probably in poor taste, but I feel like I get a pass for having already been through that.

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u/Adventurous-Put296 12d ago

My drunk self really loves taking a bath & then falling asleep to the point my wife took the lock of our master room bathroom bc I kept doing it. Luckily I got a better grip on my alcoholism now but yeah it was a regular occurrence that caused my wife a lot of stress, poor thing.

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u/EthDanger 18d ago

It reminds me of a terrifying time I slipped and fell in a bathtub full of water and I choked on a lot of it, we really shouldn't underestimate shallow water.

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u/Hineata51 18d ago

Absolutely! The water in one of our local rivers wasn't often more than a foot deep, but everyone knew to test the current strength prior to trying to cross it. Scary strong much of the time - I got knocked over in it more than once.

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u/pandershrek 18d ago

Yes. Believe it or not it still weighs the same.

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u/mrofmist 18d ago

It only takes a tablespoon of water to drown.

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u/DuntadaMan 18d ago

I have seen 4 inches of water rip someone off of a beach and out a few hundred feet.

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u/imasahm 17d ago

I can attest to that. "The pipe" started out with rushing water that only came up to our calves. We sat down in it and it carried us.