King County Sheriffs use drone to delivery a life vest during historic floods

Over the last week, Seattle and the surrounding King County have been receiving historic flooding. While local emergency services, the US Coast Guard, and the Washington National Guard are the key pillars of rescue operations, a drone proved to be a shockingly good tool in the rescue of a stranded man on top of his car.

Over the weekend, areas of the Stehekin Valley were only accessible by boat or aircraft due to the historic amounts of flooding it received after heavy rainfall. Rain continues to fall in the area, making the flooding even worse.

The height of the Stehekin River reached over 29 feet, only two feet short of a new historical record for the river. This brought floodwaters into towns across King County, which includes Seattle, forcing the Washington National Guard and US Coast Guard to begin assisting in rescue operations.

King County Sheriffs also took part in the rescue efforts. Drones have become common in law enforcement agencies across the country, with their primary purpose being search and rescue. However, drones still play a mostly passive role in these operations, providing an easy eyes-in-the-sky solution until ground units or larger air units arrive.

One deputy turned the drone from being passive into action, using their drone to deliver a life vest to a stranded citizen on top of his car.

Footage from either another drone or an elevated location shows the heroic action taken by the drone pilot. With floodwaters rushing past the stuck vehicle, the actions of this deputy very likely saved this individual’s life.

Footage of the rescue, including footage from the drone, was shared by the King County Sheriff’s Office; details of what drone was flown were not shared. However, according to the office’s public flight records, King County Sheriffs flew a primarily entire DJI fleet in 2024 and conducted drone operations nearly every day of the year.

The King County Sheriff’s state they have a total of 62 UAVs in their fleet. The 2024 records show that they fly nearly every variation of the DJI Mini, including the Mini 4 Pro, the Mavic 2 & 3 Enterprise, Avata, Matrice 30, and Matrice 350 RTK.

King County Sheriff’s Office shared that the man who was given the life vest was later rescued by a helicopter.