Icy Slip Turns Into Frigid Dip Mother, Daughter Unharmed After Slick Road Sends Truck Into Fernan Lake
Jenifer Farley and Jean Rade took an unexpected dip in Fernan Lake Thursday afternoon.
Slick, snow-covered roads sent their truck careening into the lake, where it broke through the ice and sank up to its windows.
Although neither was hurt, the two Kootenai County women had to wait, perched on top of their swamped rig, for the fire department to rescue them. “It really was petrifying,” Farley said as she and Rade warmed up in the back of a Kootenai County sheriff’s car.
Farley and her mother, Rade, were headed west on Fernan Lake Road about noon Thursday.
“It was just glare ice and it was hard to tell because it had the powdery snow over it,” Farley said.
As Rade rounded a curve on the east end of the lake, her truck started slipping on the ice. It hit the embankment, rolled and then crashed through the ice, Farley said.
At first, the truck landed upside down, Farley said. The women tried to get the doors open as the truck abruptly rolled right-side up.
The truck sat about 14 feet from shore, the water reaching the bottom of their windows.
“It filled up fast,” Farley said.
The two women were able to roll down their windows. As Farley crawled on top of the rig, her mother struggled to get her seat belt undone, then her foot got stuck momentarily in the steering wheel.
Bobbie Welch was driving home on Fernan Lake Road when she saw the two women.
“I just came around here and saw these girls waving at me and then it dawned on me, there was no dock,” she said.
Welch told the women to stay put and went to get her husband and some rope. After she left, animal patrol deputy Ed Krause drove by and spotted the women.
“They asked me ‘should we jump?’ I told them to stay put,” he said.
The Kootenai County Fire Department arrived a short time later with a ladder that they suspended between the shore and truck.
Elsewhere Thursday, police spent the day scurrying to numerous car wrecks as the snowstorm blanketed the area. The snow is expected to end today, but more snow is on the way by Sunday, forecasters said.
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MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: SKIERS HAPPY Thursday’s snow storm was a boon to North Idaho resorts. Schweitzer Mountain Resort reported at least two inches of new snow during the day, giving them 51 inches of snow at the top. By today the entire mountain will be open - including the Outback Lodge. Silver Mountain Resort received four inches of new flakes Thursday and 17 inches of new snow in the last five days. The resort reported 50 inches on top and plans to open chairs three and four today. Lookout Pass officials reported five to six inches of new snow with 33 inches of new snow on the top.