[BrettDez]

Storm of July 18th, 2007.(Queens / Nassau / Suffolk Counties in NY on Long Island)

Well, I was on the way to work in my Jeep, the storm hit real bad and was a constant torrential downpour. This caused flooding all along the way where cars were stopping and not daring to cross the flooded areas, of course knowing the highway I drive everyday, I had a decent estimate of depth and crawled through the flooded spots with no issue. Eventually I hit traffic on the dry spots and heard of cross island parkway and clearview expressway's closures on the way to the Throggs Neck Bridge, so I gave up and turned to head home.

-Approaching one area

Along the way home between the Jericho Turnpike and Northern Parkway Eastbound I stopped at every flood location to help those with stuck vehicles out. Merely pulled one of my tow straps up, hooked up and pulled the vehicles from the flood waters. Some were able to start back up after drying a bit, some weren't so lucky.

One location I pulled one vehicle out of the flood water to allow the owners to start bailing out their interior and hopefully dry their engine. I offered all the help I could after pulling them out and wished them the best. I then was in the process of pulling another vehicle when the Fire Dept showed up and about 6 guys all together helped push that vehicle out. Thanks to those guys for helping everyone out too!

-The local fire dept comes to help too. They were an awesome help.

Another spot right near a fire department was flooded bad, had to pull out a construction van and an SUV. As I was leaving another van came plowing through the water only to get stuck despite my honking warnings. So I then returned and pulled out a third vehicle at that spot. I continued on, finding a couple more vehicles and a couple more flooded spots.

-And he's free! This guy's van started back up after a little effort. Surprisingly as he was in pretty deep when I found him.


-This guy was psyched to be getting pulled out by me. He posed for a picture next to his SUV.


-SUV Free!


-I helped this firefighter who got his van stuck heading out to his fire station to help.

One area was on the Northern State Parkway(westbound, I accidently took the wrong ramp when I wanted to go east, but found those in need anyway, must've been fate), the area was flooded bad, a car and a van were stuck in the flood area, blocking even the shallow edge for traffic to go around. Traffic was backed up for a while. I drove onto the grass and got around to the people outside their cars waiting for help. I offered to pull them out for free(I didn't charge anyone, just glad to help and have fun doing it). Waded out with all the traffic watching, hooked up both vehicles and pulled them from the water freeing up traffic. A bunch of cars went onto the grass to go around the flooding and me recovering the vehicles blocking traffic. They tore up the grass something fierce and caused the whole area to turn into a mud pit, which more cars tried to go through and got stuck. So once done clearing the parkway, I then had to go into the mud and free up the cars stuck there to. I was very busy at that spot.

-After clearing out the parkway, I then cleared out this muddy area formed by all the cars. As you can see, no one is stuck there anymore. I cleaned up. :-)

While pulling them out of the real slick mud, I engaged my lockers to make sure I wouldn't join them in being stuck, hopefully. Once I was done and cleared up the area(as pictured). I tried to disengage my lockers only to find that my rear locker was stuck. I tried all kinds of maneuvering forwards and backwards to get it to disengage. I tried shifting the transfer case and everything. I had a problem where I was stuck going REAL slow with my locker stuck engaged, limping home. After about 8 to 10 miles it just disengaged on it's own?!?!?!? WHy did it get stuck, I didn't do anything rough with her and are there any tricks for unsticking the rear locker if it gets stuck?

After the locker disengaged itself on the way home, I was up to speed again and found yet one more flood spot with a construction pickup truck stuck in the water. So I pulled him out too, he thought I was gonna charge him. I said no way, just glad to help.

-Pulled this pickup out on the way home. As you can see, he's now free!


-Mission Success. Jeep Wrangler Rescue Rubicon.

At the end of the day, I pulled out around 10 to 15 vehicles. I lost count and didn't get pictures of everything as I was busy. Helped firefighters, pulled out a cop, helped a pregnant woman, and everyone was immensely thankful. And I was just having a blast. Lots of fun! I even made it on Fox News at 5, they mentioned me right near the end and showed images. Jeep Wrangler Rescue Rubicon!

-Turtle(as I call her) wearing one of her tow straps as a medal.

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SHAMELESS PLUG - As of 8/31/07
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Just a request. I am on the hunt for Rescue Green Half Doors with Black soft uppers. I want to trade my full steel rescue green doors for them. Fair trade, full doors for half doors and uppers. Winter is comming up and some people might like the added security and convenience of the full doors. If you or anyone you know might be interested in trading, contact me at BrettDez@gmail.com . I am willing to drive very far to meet up if neccessary. I think we'll both be happy with the trade, my doors in are perfect condition! So let me know!

[carracer]

A true Jeeper! I would like to think we would all be a hero such as he IS!!!

Thank you for preserving and promoting the Jeep family and 4x4's in general!

[BrettDez]

Well...my offroading pics are much better, check the LI Meet & Greet thread in USA East forum for some of them, pine barrens ones are awesome.

Got any input on my lockers and why my rear one got stuck engaged?

[Rocky529]

Nice pics man, that is why Jeepers are great.

[bobzinger]

Nice job... looks like you had fun while helping out.

[beefy]

In the last Engineering Q/A, http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f144/, the engineers responded to a Rubicon owner with the same locker issue here: http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/3954515-post112.html

[BrettDez]

Thanks for pointing it out beefy, I always love how helpful this forum is. I had actually read that before the storm occurred though. And when it was stuck, I tried extreme turns in all directions forward and reverse to try and disengage it. But no maneuvering I did made it work. Only limping very slowly home did it disengage finally while I was slowly driving forward, no turns.

So even trying what they said didn't help me yesterday :-(

[merfsiu]

Go out and buy a lotto ticket cause karma owes you!

[Dypuz]

Nice Job!

[CHRRRIS]

Props.

[Ancient Mariner]

Good story put together well, and great pix, too. Thanks.

[mdlott]

Great job! I felt good when I used my tow strap to move a 35 ft. tree out of the road when it was blocking both lanes (everyone cheered when I was done), but this blows my story away. Now I have the urge to drive around aimlessly until I find people to help! Again, great job!!!

[DLeeWebb]

Really interesting story, a good samaritan in a "Rescue" Green Jeep Wrangler. You should be in a Jeep commercial! I had some friends travelling through that general area yesterday. I need to give them a call. It's nice to know that there are people like you out there!

[JEEP-DADDY]

Awesome story man, gotta love jeeps and the people that own them!

[greggradwohl]

http://www.jk-forum.com/showthread.php?t=11122&highlight=locker

Good work out there brother.