Man Saves Self From Flood After Rescue Hope Fades

ST. LOUIS — As Glenn Grotegeers clung to a tree in Mississippi River floodwaters, swinging a life jacket over his head and screaming at a helicopter overhead, he felt sure he was headed for a made-for-TV rescue drama.

But then the helicopter passed and he knew he would have to rescue himself.

The 21-hour ordeal he was recounting began at about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, when a downed tree rammed his boat head-on, dumping him into the water covering the soybean fields and cornfields surrounding his home.

Grotegeers, 42, a carpenter, decided to take matters into his own hands and swim out. He said he floated and swam 20 miles before he reached dry land and climbed out on a levee near the Corps of Engineers’ Lock 27, just north of St. Louis. He was lucky to be alive, Corps officials said.