An 83-year-old driver was found alive early Saturday after sliding off North Goble Creek Road in Cowlitz County on Friday evening.
The unidentified man told officials that during his commute home around 8:30 p.m. Friday, another vehicle’s headlights blinded him, causing him to swerve off the road.
His vehicle descended a 25-foot embankment into Goble Creek, leaving the front portion of the vehicle to sit in the waterway. Water began to run through his car, he told officials, leading him to make his way to his trunk and sleep there until the morning.
Cowlitz 2 Fire and Rescue responded to the single-vehicle accident at 6:30 a.m. Saturday; it took firefighters about 30 minutes to locate the driver. The man’s rescue was delayed, as he couldn’t locate his phone after the accident or safely exit his vehicle. He later located his phone and called 911.
