Crews worked through the night and into Friday morning to repair a major water main break in Salem that left a busy area near an MBTA station flooded and commuters stranded.
Tim Keller says he thought he was just driving through a puddle on his ride home in Salem Thursday night. Instead, he drove his 11-year-old Dodge Dakota pickup into a hole as the road buckled beneath him.
Keller described the heart-racing moment his truck began to sink saying, “It was very much an ‘Oh no! This is bad!”
The surreal scene was caught on camera and Keller can be seen holding on for dear life.
“I didn’t gun it enough because it would just keep slipping,” Keller said. “I just kept constant pressure on it and yeah, I got extremely lucky. I can’t believe it. I can’t believe I got out of there.”
Jess Haberman arrived Friday morning to check on the car she had to abandon the night before.
Though her Ford Fusion was waterlogged, it was still drivable.
“Here is my car, it started, so that was great,” she said.
By midday Friday, the break was repaired and the road was reopened.
Images of the wild ride are still etched in Keller’s brain and he is happy he can laugh about it now.
“I hate to think if it was a half an hour later, it would have been washed out even more. I might not have even gotten out of there,” he said. “So, yea, very lucky on a foolish choice.”
He says the car is no worse for wear and aside from changing the air filter, he plans to hang on to his trusty pickup.
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