Man drowns in Flint Creek

DELAWARE COUNTY, Okla. -- A 39-year-old Tulsa, Okla., man died Saturday night in Flint Creek after diving into the water to rescue his two children.

Rescue personnel received a call of a possible drowning at 6:33 p.m. to the water park alongside Flint Creek near the Cherokee Turnpike in Delaware County, Okla., according to Brian Edwards, Grand River Dam Authority Chief of Law Enforcement and Lake Operations.

Fire departments from West Siloam Springs, Okla., and Oaks, Okla., along with GRDA, responded to the call.

Personnel from Oaks Fire Department found Jose Sergio Padilla's body in less than an hour very close to where he was last seen in around four feet of water, Edwards said.

Edwards said Padilla's 7- and 11-year-old daughters were swimming on the east side of the creek when they began experiencing trouble in the water.

Padilla jumped in from the west side in an attempt to rescue his kids and began experiencing trouble, Edwards said.

The children were successfully retrieved out of the water, but Padilla disappeared below the surface, Edwards said.

Edwards added that Flint Creek had been at action stage, which is just below the start of the flood stage, earlier in the day.

Siloam Springs Fire Department responded to a different call just nine minutes earlier.

At 6:24 p.m., SSFD was dispatched, along with Gallatin Fire Department, to the intersection of Chamber Springs Road and the Illinois River.

Two female victims were reported stranded on a sandbar in the river.

SSFD deployed a water rescue boat and retrieved the two victims, then returned them to shore. No transport to the hospital was needed.

-- Herald-Leader staff writer Michael Burchfiel contributed to this report.