LINCOLN COUNTY, WV (WSAZ/CNN) – A driver in West Virginia is thankful after a close call with nature when his truck was nearly crushed by falling trees.
Had Ronald Wiley driven just a little faster, he might not be smiling while re-watching a video clip from his dash camera, taken Friday night.
The man was driving down a highway that evening. It had been raining much of the day.
"It happened so fast,” Wiley said. "The bank gave way and trees just started falling like dominoes... [I] slid right into them with the wet roads."
The video shows the trees crash down on and in front of Wiley’s truck.
"Seven trees tangled up all together. One was across the windshield and one was across the top of the cab,” Wiley said.
The man says fortunately he was driving alertly when this happened.
"I looked up and saw the cable lines and telephone lines were still intact, so I went ahead and backed out, just in case they did give way,” Wiley said.
The truck suffered just minor damage, including a broken windshield wiper and busted corner of the grill.
"God was definitely watching over me,” Wiley said.
Wiley’s wife, Brandi, says later that night, she was telling her husband what a rough day she’d had until he pulled out his phone and showed her the dash cam video.
“When I saw the tree come down, my heart just stopped. I looked at him. I said, ‘OK, you win. I can't beat a tree falling on top of you,’” Brandi Wiley said.
Oddly enough, Ronald Wiley says this has happened to him before.
"Years ago on a four wheeler, me and my cousin were riding, and a tree fell right in between us. The branches barely got him as he went by, and I locked up and slid right into it. I sent him a message and sent him the video and asked him if that reminded him of anything,” he said.
Copyright 2017 WSAZ, Ronald Wiley via CNN. All rights reserved.
