Four cars were damaged after several high-speed crashes happened within moments of each other along Interstate 5 in Del Mar. The incidents ended with one car flipped and another car partially submerged in water early Thursday.
CHP officers responded to calls for help from several drivers along northbound Interstate 5 near Via de la Valle at 5 a.m.
“It’s a miracle that we’re all okay,” said driver Amanda Conahan. “Somehow we’re all okay, I don’t know how.”
Conahan said she was traveling northbound in her blue Hyundai when the car began hydroplaning on the rain-slicked road.
When her car began to fishtail, she said she slid across the road and slammed into a guardrail, landing upside down off the freeway.
“I think I flipped twice, I don’t know, it’s hard to tell,” she said.
At the same time, three other cars were involved in a collision at the same location although the California Highway Patrol has not determined the cause of the crash.
Passenger Ben Hertel told NBC 7 he was worried about flipping over as well when the vehicle he was traveling in drove off the highway and down the embankment.
Hertel said the white Lincoln Towncar was hit from behind.
“We spun into the guardrail on the inside and then came all the way across the freeway collecting a couple of other cars and going off the bank,” he said.
The car landed in water described as about knee-deep.
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Hertel said the car doors opened just fine so they were able to get out without any injury.
Inside another car, two Navy sailors were headed to Camp Pendleton to work when their vehicle also went down the 150-foot embankment.
Their vehicle landed upright. The sailors were not injured, officials said.
Removing the vehicles was a challenge for tow truck drivers who were working to clear the scene.
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