(PHOTO AND STORY: KHQ.COM)
The wet weather is taking a toll on roads in Adams County, prompting road closures due to washouts. On Lind-Warden Road though, an entire chunk of the road is missing, and this washout happened while a man was driving over it to get to work.”Saw some mud on the roadway, put my vehicle in four-wheel drive, slowed down and the next thing I know is I’m going into a wall,” says Richard Ledgerwood.
He and his car went down a 15-foot embankment as the road crumbled beneath him, but through it all, this Army vet remained calm.
“That’s what I did, one step at a time,” he says.He did everything methodically and logically as water rushed into his car. He was able to get the window open, get out, push himself onto the rocks and climb up the embankment. He escaped this brush with death with only a scratch on his finger. But now, it’s difficult for Richard to even think about. He’s just grateful the car was pushed in the current in the way it was otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to make it out.
“Thankful. It’s just a vehicle,” he says. “It’s not me.”There was something else he’s thankful for too – the flashlight in his pocket. It was pitch dark out and that little light didn’t only save his life. It saved others.”When I got up on the road I saw a car coming. I said the road's gone. If I hadn't got out of there, he would've been in there too,” he says.
Adams County engineers say it will take weeks to fix the road, but they’re working on a temporary route for people who live near there.