A SUV rolled about 100 feet down a roadside cliff during heavy rain in Oceanside over the weekend, leaving its driver severely injured and firefighters with the daunting task of hoisting him to safety.
The vehicle veered off El Camino Real around 6:40 p.m. Sunday and tumbled down the bluffs near Vista Oceana, Battalion Chief Felipe Rodriguez of the Oceanside Fire Department said. Automated gauges in Oceanside collected just over half an inch of rain in a 48-hour period ending at 7 p.m. Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
“The incident occurred during a rain storm, which is believed to have been a contributing part of the accident,” Rodriguez said.
The crash left the driver seriously injured and trapped in the wreckage of his vehicle. Rodriguez said fire crews descended the muddy and slippery cliff to access the driver.
But the terrain and weather forced crews to use a rope system to lower additional firefighters to the vehicle and to hoist the injured man back to street level. Rodriguez said the driver was flown to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla.
—City News Service