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‘They saved my life'

Woman pulled from floodwaters trying to save dog

Fred Stabbert III - Publisher
Posted 8/6/20

CALLICOON — Denise Whipple still cries as she tells the story about being pulled from the Callicoon Creek by two volunteer firefighters on Tuesday night.

“It was like a miracle,” an …

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‘They saved my life'

Woman pulled from floodwaters trying to save dog

Posted

CALLICOON — Denise Whipple still cries as she tells the story about being pulled from the Callicoon Creek by two volunteer firefighters on Tuesday night.

“It was like a miracle,” an emotional Whipple said through tears.

The scene unfolded shortly after 5 p.m. as Whipple and her friend, Kate, walked their three dogs through Callicoon.

“I always walk my dog, Camille, and Kate has two dogs,” Whipple said.

Their usual route takes them down Lower Main St., Callicoon, across the Callicoon Creek Bridge and down the access road to the Delaware River.

But Tuesday would be different.

Thanks to Tropical Storm Isaias, the Callicoon Creek was nearly seven-feet deep and its velocity, according to the USGS, had reached a 70-year high.

“We saw all the emergency personnel on the access road and I said, ‘Oh God, you guys have to spend the day fishing for idiots.'” (See related story, page 3A).

With that, Whipple and Kate turned around and walked back uptown to the Callicoon Creek Park to give their dogs some exercise.

“We decided to let our dogs off leash for a minute to let them run,” Whipple remembered. “And Camille saw that big mud puddle and went right in.”

That mud puddle was the raging Callicoon Creek, which had turned milk chocolate in color and was hurtling toward the nearby Delaware River, which was also flooding due to the rain.

“After I saw Camille leap into the raging waters my friend Kate grabbed me and tried to hold me back, she knew I was going in, too,” Whipple remembered.

“I struggled free, and without even shoes on, jumped in,” she said.

Upper Delaware Ambulance Corps volunteers Kaitlin and Conor Duffy, who had just seen the ladies walking their dogs on the other side of the creek, witnessed the whole thing.

“Kaitlin sees my dog go in the creek and me jump in right after her,” Whipple remembered. “[Willie Max-well] radioed across the creek to two Callicoon firemen, who were trying to check on a stranded man and his vehicle.

“As soon as I hit the water I realized there was no way I'm getting out of this river,” she said. “A calm came over me and I thought of my mother.”

Whipple grabbed hold of a branch to try and stop herself but soon lost her grip.

She said she went downstream a bit and around an outcropping when she finally saw the mighty Delaware River.

“I let go of that tree and once I got around the corner I saw the vastness of what I had done. There was no way out,” she mused.

But rescue efforts were already underway as Chief Willie Maxwell radioed Car 62 to get to the Lander's launch to rescue a woman who had fallen in the creek.

“A hand came down - and I missed it,” she said, her voice starting to rise. “The second hand came down and I grabbed it and they pulled me out.”

Those hands belonged to Tom Baudendistel and Tom Kaufmann, two Callicoon volunteer firemen who were initially sent to the other side of the Creek by Chief Maxwell to check on the man stranded on the island.

“I saw her and all I could see was her shoulders and head,” a relieved Kaufmann said. “She was in turbulent water and really floundering.”

Luckily Kaufman knew were there was a little ledge right where they were trying to pull Whipple out.

Reflecting on the whole scenario, Whipple said, “I couldn't even save myself and I put somebody else's life at risk. It all happened in two seconds. I couldn't have saved Camille even if I had found her and those men would have jumped in those floodwaters to save me.”

In fact, Kaufmann said he had already emptied his pockets in case he had to get wet, but was happy it all ended like it did.

Luckily, Camille also found shore and was on the bank when Whipple was pulled ashore.

The Upper Delaware Volunteer Ambulance Corps then transported Whipple to Garnett Hospital to be checked out.

“It was a team effort by a group of dedicated personnel,” Kaufmann said. “She was saved through the efforts of the fire department and its members.”

“All the stars were aligned that day,” Maxwell reflected. “God was on her side.”

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