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Teens lucky to be alive after hydroplaning, flipping car into Loyalhanna Creek during heavy rains

WESTMORELAND CO., Pa. — Emergency responders were called to two separate car crashes in the exact same location in Westmoreland County Monday -- just hours apart.

The first one happened around 2:15 p.m. in Derry Township near the Loyalhanna Creek and Lincoln Highway.

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Police said the vehicle hydroplaned and crashed into the creek off the road. The two people inside that car were able to get out before help arrived, and they were not injured.

“The only thing I remember is sliding and hitting the guardrail. After that, everything is black,” said Megan Button.

In a split second, her drive to work turned into a nightmare. She was in the car with her boyfriend.

“It hydroplaned and caught traction and that’s what I feel like launched us into the guardrail. And then we went over the guardrail, flipped once and the car filled,” Drevin Fink said.

Button’s Jeep landed in the icy creek upside down and rapidly began filling with water.

“I remember hitting the bottom of the water and then grabbing the tree and getting out,” she said.

Two strangers stopped and helped pull the pair out of the fast flowing water about they floated about a tenth of a mile downstream.

Crews were called to another crash at the same spot around 4:30 p.m. That car didn’t slide into the water, but it overturned and ended up on its roof. It hydroplaned as well, but no one was hurt.

Investigators told Channel 11 that area was dangerous because water was rushing down the mountain side onto Route 30.

The car was pulled out of the water Thursday afternoon.