A trench collapsed on Shorter Avenue trapping a Floyd County Water Department worker for more than three hours Tuesday afternoon.

25-year-old Shawn Michael Marie, a two year veteran of the Floyd County Water Department was 6 feet down a trench when an 18 wheeler drove past the ditch and it collapsed.

When rescue workers arrived on the scene Marie was alert and conscious but his legs were trapped in the dirt and mud.

The Rome Fire Department, EMS, Rome Police and the Floyd County Sheriff’s Department were all on the scene digging Marie out by hauling water and dirt from the ditch with buckets and shovels.

The Rome City Water Department brought in their vacuum truck to suck water away from the ditch so the trench would not collapse in on Marie. Additionally, crews passed oxygen down to Marie as they worked to free him.

He was freed around 4:30 p.m. and grasped his wife’s hand as he was placed on a stretcher and taken to Floyd Medical Center for treatment.

The westbound lanes of Shorter Avenue were shut down for four hours during the rescue.