Man saved wife before drowning in floodwaters from Ida

QUAKERTOWN, Pa. (AP) - A Pennsylvania man is being remembered as a hero after he pushed his wife to safety when floodwaters brought by the remnants of Hurricane Ida rushed into their car. He didn’t make it out with her.

As their vehicle filled with floodwater in the far northern suburbs of Philadelphia late Wednesday, Donald Bauer helped his wife Katherine climb through a busted back windshield.

“My father started pushing my mom out, and telling her to go and go and go,” said the couple’s son, Darby Bauer. “All she remembers from being pushed out of the car was him touching her one last time, shouting at her to go.”

Katherine Bauer clung to a tree and watched the rising waters carry their Mazda SUV out of sight. She was rescued about an hour later.

Donald Bauer’s body was found the next morning. He was still in the vehicle.

The couple had attended their daughter’s college volleyball game and were trying to return to their Perkiomenville home in the worsening storm when their Mazda died and began to float.

Darby Bauer said his father, a 65-year-old retired school bus driver, “100%” saved his mother’s life.

“Without his help, I don’t think she would’ve gotten out of the car,” he said.

Donald Bauer “had one of the biggest hearts we knew,” his son said. “He was selfless down to his last act.”

Officials say at least four other people died in Pennsylvania as the remnants of Hurricane Ida, the deadliest storm the nation has seen since 2017, pummeled the Northeast with record-breaking rain that flooded roads and houses.

Earlier, Ida laid waste to parts of Louisiana and Mississippi after blowing ashore as one of the strongest hurricanes to hit the U.S.

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