High water across a road in southern Caldwell County this weekend proved too much for a vehicle attempting a crossing.
County Sheriff’s Deputy Brock Thomas said a 1990 Mazda Protege driven by 24-year-old Ashley Goodwin, of Cobb Road, Cerulean, was carried into a creek bed while attempting to cross high water on Wallace Fork Road at about 6:30 a.m. Saturday.
Thomas said Goodwin was turning onto Wallace Fork Road from Trusty Road off Ky. 672, in an attempt to return home.
A creek running under the roadway had overflowed its banks, but Goodwin had apparently crossed successfully about two hours before, said Thomas.
The second crossing would turn out to be unsuccessful. Goodwin got about halfway through the water when the car lifted up, rotated and went off the roadway, sinking into the creek and its rushing flow.
Emergency personnel were dispatched to the scene at about 8:10 a.m., after a turkey hunter spotted the vehicle in the creek, with no one inside.
“When I first got there, it was up in the windows,” said Thomas.
He and county EMS crews began going from house to house in the area, knocking on doors to attempt to locate the vehicle’s occupants.
After a 45-minute search, Goodwin and her two passengers — 27-year-old Ricky Baird and 42-year-old Vicky Atwell, both of Cadiz — were found unhurt at a residence on Trusty Road, directly up the creek bank from the scene of the accident.
They had made it out of the vehicle on their own and walked up the hill to the residence, which did not have a telephone.
Each refused medical treatment.
Princeton Fire and Rescue units assisted at the scene.
After about two-and-a-half hours, the water level had ebbed to the point where a tow truck from Hammons Automotive was able to get the car out of the water.
