As Kevin Noel steered his SUV onto a quiet street in Vancouver, Washington, on Saturday, the unthinkable happened: A 12-foot-long sinkhole opened under the car, pulling him and his girlfriend face-first into flooding water.
They thought they were prepared. One week into a massive storm that turned many of the region’s roads into slushy, icy snowscapes, Noel had his heavy-duty tires on the Jeep. Having watched another motorist hydroplane on the main thoroughfare’s wet surface, the couple had detoured off Fourth Plain Boulevard, just to be extra cautious.
What they didn’t know as they slowly turned onto West 30th Street around 1:15 a.m., after their snack at Taco Bell, was that a 1940s water main four feet under the street had sprung a leak, probably unrelated to the weather, said Brian Wilson, a public works superintendent for the city of Vancouver. Water rushing from the damaged water main underground had dislodged enough sediment below the road to turn the asphalt into a tissue waiting to catch a bowling ball.
Or, in this case, a 3,000-pound 2015 red Jeep Patriot. The couple could see none of what was happening underground from behind the dashboard. To them, the view looked just like a road.
“Like a rollercoaster,” is how Katlynn Bicknell, Noel’s girlfriend, describes the couple’s sudden plunge.
Water rushed into the Jeep, filling the front seat, and Bicknell said she panicked, opening the door to try to quickly escape. The weight of the water pushed back, though, and the door slammed shut, catching Bicknell’s leg and foot. Noel then reached from inside the Jeep and pushed, holding the passenger door open and allowing Bicknell to escape. He then rolled down his window manually and climbed to the surface through the gap.
Even a day later, “this whole thing doesn’t feel real,” Bicknell said Sunday, reflecting on the quick turn of events that could have come out a lot worse.
Noel was driving only about 10 mph when the car hit the impaired surface, Bicknell said. That meant the Jeep didn’t fully plunge into the sinkhole. She credits the jagged edge of the asphalt, at the spot where they created and entered the sinkhole, with saving them from possibly drowning. It caught the Jeep, slowing it even more before it descended into the muck.
Emergency responders arrived quickly after the couple called 911, Bicknell said.
The Jeep that Noel paid off in June is beyond saving, but the couple counts themselves lucky.
They are now thinking about how to prepare for the next unexpected event.
Bicknell’s top advice is don’t panic. Had she stayed calm at first, she might have thought to open her window instead of the door, avoiding injury to her ankle, she said.
She’s also adding a tool to her car’s emergency kit: a window breaker.
Wilson said maintenance workers retrieved Noel’s Jeep, repaired the water main and filled in the sinkhole within 12 hours of its appearance.