A Friday morning report of a car in the water with a woman sitting on top of it brought a Boone County Deputy Sheriff and the Boone County Emergency Management Services to the 2200 block of M Avenue north of Woodward.
Rebecca Hemesath of Woodward was southbound on M Avenue about 8:30 a.m. when she lost control of her vehicle. The car left the roadway and ended up in the creek at the mouth of a culvert about 20 feet below the level of the roadway.
The driver’s side airbag deployed, and the car began to fill with water, Hemesath said.
“I can’t swim,” she said, “and I couldn’t tell how deep the water was. I stuck my foot in but couldn’t feel the bottom. So I called rather than fall into this pesticide-filled water.”
Hemesath’s boyfriend, U.S. Army National Guardsman Jeff Roloff of Woodward, was soon on the scene, along with local law enforcement, and Hemesath was restored to dry land.
She said she did not sustain injuries.
Hemesath said her car fishtails every morning on this rough stretch of gravel along M Avenue.
“It’s always like this right here,” she said. “I never lose control, but today obviously I did.”
“This is some of the worst gravel I’ve ever seen,” Roloff said. “Boone County grades it every week it seems like, but it always sucks.”
