Joleen Jarrell: Uber driver dies after being swept away by floodwaters as she spoke to husband on phone
DALLAS, TEXAS: A 60-year-old Uber driver and a mother of three died in Dallas, Texas, after her car was swept away in floodwaters while she was on the phone with her husband, with the grim news coming just as Texas recorded the wettest August day in history. Joleen Jarrell was on her way home after completing a job on Monday, August 22, when her vehicle was swept off a bridge as nearly 12 inches of rain fell in the suburban Dallas city of Mesquite, her friends told CBS11.
She was on the phone with her husband Kirk Jarrell, with whom she was married for more than 20 years when her SUV began filling with water. She described to him the water coming in till her ankles, then to her knees. The phone then went dead. Before Jarrell had been identified, Mesquite Fire Chief Rusty Wilson confirmed to reporters at the scene that the dead woman’s loved ones were already searching for her when rescue crews arrived. "They told me that themselves that they were on the phone with her and lost contact with her so they were in the act of actually looking for her," said Wilson, New York Post reported.