Car lands upside-down in watery ditch amid winter storm in DeKalb County, Illinois
CORTLAND, Ill. (CBS) -- Amid the winter storm Tuesday afternoon, a car ended up in a ditch upside down in DeKalb County – about 65 miles from Chicago.
At Somonauk and Gurler roads – a junction surrounded by vast swaths of farmland just south of the community of Cortland – a man's car slid off the slippery roadway.
His car ended up trapped in a flooded ditch next to a culvert. Snow was coming down at the time, and the ground was covered.
The water quickly filled the man's car, but he was able to call for help. Fortunately, a county sheriff's deputy was close by and heard the call.
"We kept talking to him the whole time. He stayed conscious," said DeKalb County Chief Deputy Sheriff Jim Burgh. "Water was up to his shoulders, so his head stayed above the water, and the only thing he was complaining about was he was getting cold."
Firefighters then came, and were able to pull the man out and get him to the hospital just in time. There was no word on his condition late Tuesday.