FedEx Driver Rescued By Boat After Delivery Truck Stranded By Rising Tides

A FedEx driver got just a little bit too far behind in their deliveries this week while dropping packages out on Lieutenant Island near Cape Cod, Massachusetts and ended up in the drink. The waterway between Cape Cod and the Island is typically driven over by the short bridge you can see in the background of the truck above, but at high tide the water can rise several feet to cover miles of land and road surrounding it. The tidal island contains about 100 properties, mostly summer homes, with much of the island covered by a wildlife sanctuary. On their way back from dropping off a package, the truck got caught in high tide conditions that left the driver stranded just before noon on Saturday. 

According to firefighter reports, the driver called an emergency line as the water continued to creep up on them, requesting rescue from the causeway. Two Wellfleet, Massachusetts firefighters jumped in a Zodiac-style rescue boat and zoomed out to collect the FedEx driver. Thankfully the driver was uninjured. The truck, however, was left sitting in salty water until the tidewaters receded. FedEx told the Boston Globe that all of the packages on the truck were "carefully examined" and the packages with no damage were delivered. "Any affected shippers will be notified," continued the statement. 

The Wellfleet fire department later issued a statement to the locals warning them against driving into water. "Exercise caution on Lieutenant Island Road, especially during high tides," said the fire chief. "Rising tides can create hazardous conditions and pose significant risks to motorists."

The first and biggest risk of driving into water is that you often can't see what lies beneath, and can't place your car safely on the road. It would have been so easy for the FedEx driver to put a wheel over the edge of the road and end up flopping into the drink, causing a whole lot more damage. If you aren't causing damage to yourself, you could also cause irreparable harm to your car's engine. If the air intake dips below the water line, it can suck a bunch of water into the combustion chambers, hydro-locking the engine and potentially making your engine a very large and unwieldy paperweight. Just don't do it, ya hear?