This story is being provided free to all readers as a public service by knoxnews.com Please consider supporting local journalism by taking advantage of this special offer.

A man has died after being trapped inside his vehicle submerged in water on S. Peters Road early Sunday morning in West Knoxville.

Knox County Sheriff's Office reported that, shortly after midnight, several agencies — including the Sheriff's Office, Rural Metro Fire, AMR ambulance service and the Knoxville Volunteer Emergency Rescue Squad -- attempted to rescue the man. He was taken to Parkwest Medical Center, where he died.

Jeffrey Bagwell of Rural Metro reported that witnesses said they tried yelling at the man as he drove into the water. It covered 90 percent of his car, they said.

The victim will not be identified until his family is notified.

That area of S. Peters Road was underwater by early afternoon Saturday. Several vehicles still are submerged there as of Sunday afternoon.

A Chevy Sonic belonging to Cedar Bluff resident Scott Wright is one.

Wright and his wife were delivering Vietnamese food she prepares to order around 10:30 a.m. Saturday when they first crossed S. Peters and Ebeneezer roads, which were already beginning to flood. On the return trip, the car stalled in water, which was then about knee-deep, Wright said.

"We go through it once, and it wasn't too bad, so I thought we could get through it again," Wright said. "I was wrong. The water had risen considerably in the 10 minutes it took us to get back."

Wright and his wife got a ride home. When Wright returned 30 minutes later with a friend, he said, his car was completely submerged. By afternoon, there were several vehicles underwater there.

Wright said he's thankful to have had comprehensive insurance on the vehicle. Wright, who lived in Tuscaloosa, Ala., when a tornado hit there in 2011, said he thought he knew how to stay safe in inclement weather, but "I'd never dealt with floods before."

Know where to avoid:Updated road conditions: Water receding, but slides, floods still have some roads closed, compromised

Bagwell said Rural Metro has assisted 66 rescues county-wide related to the flooding.

He reminded people not to drive into standing water unless they can clearly see the pavement underneath.

The man is the first fatality for Knox County related to this flooding. A man in Hawkins County died after his pickup slid down an embankment during a mudslide, and a woman in Cheatham County was swept away in fast-moving water.