Driver escapes submerged car through open sunroof

GREENWOOD, Ind. — An opened sunroof may have saved a driver's life in Indiana. His car was completely submerged after he hydroplaned into a creek Thursday. The sunroof was his only way out.

Cellphone video captured the scene after the car became submerged in a creek.

The young driver went through high water, which caused him to hydroplane. "He went through these trees and actually dropped about 4 foot, into the creek and at the time, it was about the height of where the sunroof is because it was coming in heavy," Tod Coumbe, of White Glove Towing, told WISH.

By chance, the driver had opened the sunroof before losing control, according to Coumbe. "It actually drifted a bit. He had to jump out. He went through the sunroof to get out. It was the only way out. And it was moving. Then he said that he had literally leaped the last 2 foot."

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It was just one of many accidents caused by the weather, according to Johnson County Sheriff Duane Burgess. "If that car would've been upside down we would've had some fatalities in that incident."

Burgess could not say how many, but says crews rescued people all over the county. "Water will move a car such as the one on Morgantown. It swept it on down and by the end of the day, you couldn't see the vehicle."

There were no serious injuries reported, but authorities warn even just inches of water can take over your vehicle. Once it's under, often times it shuts off electrical signals, preventing you from being able to roll down windows or escape.

Fortunately, in this case the opened sunroof likely saved the young man's life. "If they wouldn't have got out, we would not know until the water would go down," said Burgess.

CNN/WISH