By Tricia Pursell
SHAMOKIN — Muddy, quick-moving water began to fill the cab of her Toyota pickup truck after a Shamokin woman plunged into 5-foot-deep Benny’s Run Creek Saturday afternoon.
“The first thing I thought was, I’m not gonna get out of out of here,” said Virginia Pawelczyk, 35, of 12 S. Shamokin St.
Pawelczyk had lost control of her pickup truck on a sharp curve, slid along a wet Irish Valley Road, and plummeted six feet down an embankment and into the Shamokin Township creek.
Water was seeping into the pickup truck as it sunk further into the channel.
“My phone had rattled itself to the floor,” she said. “I reached down, grabbed the phone, and immediately called my husband.”
Pawelczyk then crawled out the passenger’s-side window, onto the hood of the truck, then waded through the water to the creek bank.
Several passersby stayed with her until her husband, Kenny, and brother-in-law, Stan Pawelczyk, arrived to pull the truck from the water with a tow chain and another four-wheel-drive pickup.
Another brother-in-law, Dan Pawelczyk, also assisted.
When the truck was being connected, Virginia said three men were holding onto the chain because the water’s current was so quick.
Fire and rescue crews responded to the 911 emergency report of a vehicle in the creek and its driver trapped. Virginia is unsure who made the call.
State police also responded, but listed the accident as nonreportable because the vehicle was operable after being pulled from the creek. There was only minimal damage.
It was one of several accidents and other events including street and sewer flooding reported to Northumberland County Communications during a torrential downpour.
Residents on Irish Valley Road have been complaining for some time about how slippery the road’s surface gets when wet, Virginia said.
