Utah
Couple recovers after being hit by falling rocks while driving in Utah
Estimated learn time: 2-3 minutes
SALEM — A husband and spouse have been recovering collectively in a care facility Monday after a street hazard caught them unexpectedly two weeks earlier on the street to Helper.
Quirino Navarro and his spouse, Luz, have been driving alongside Freeway 6 within the Value Canyon space north of Helper when massive rocks started falling from the cliff face in entrance of them and on prime of them.
“I see the rocks coming this fashion however there’s nothing I can do about it,” Navarro instructed KSL-TV in an interview. “(One rock) comes straight from the sky, in like this, so we have now no likelihood to do something.”
That rock got here by way of the windshield of the couple’s SUV and struck them, inflicting a number of fractures within the bones in Quirino’s proper thigh and Luz’s left thigh.
“The one which hit us is a minimum of 120 lbs.,” the husband stated, acknowledging the huge rock might have weighed as much as 200 lbs.
Navarro stated he probably nonetheless confronted two extra weeks within the rehabilitation facility in Salem. He stated docs instructed him it may very well be as much as a yr earlier than his leg is totally healed.
He stated his spouse confronted a shorter restoration.
It was believed, Navarro stated, that maybe the rocks have been loosened throughout a earlier rain storm, although he stated there was blue sky overhead when the rocks fell.
On June 20 following the accident, Helper Metropolis Police Division cautioned drivers to pay attention to falling rocks within the canyon after rain storms.
“Though there is not an excessive amount of you are able to do so as to keep away from the rock, simply bear in mind it’s a drawback,” the division warned.
Navarro stated the expertise was “scary” and he expressed issues in regards to the potential that what occurred might occur to another person.
He questioned if street engineers may be capable to take a better take a look at the rock faces subsequent to the street and doubtlessly give you an answer.
For now, he additionally cautioned drivers to decelerate and watch intently for the potential hazard as they move by way of the world.
“That is what occurred,” Navarro stated. “What else can we do?”