A Vancouver man who escaped from a deadly mudslide on Highway 99 on Monday said he was grateful for the kindness of complete strangers in the painful ordeal.
Noah Morse and his brother-in-law, Luke, on the long journey home from a family funeral near Merritt, after passing Lillooet about 15 minutes , Encountered a few rocks and boulders scattered on Duffey Lake Road (Duffey Lake Road).
As the provincial highway information and notification service DriveBC did not shut down or report an alarm, the couple continued to drive until they encountered a row of stopped vehicles.
Morse said they got off the jeep to see what happened and learned that the car had stopped due to an earlier landslide.
They returned to the car and turned on the engine-but it was too late.
“In an instant, it hit us,” Morse told Global News.
“Just a roar, you can feel it.”
“It’s all over, it’s just over”: Global BC photographers sweep the floor on the Highway 99 slide
Morse said it was unforgettable to hear the sound of mountains moving and trees breaking.
“Something I will never forget, it will always be in my heart.”
He said that the two men’s jeep flipped vigorously several times and then hung upside down near some trees.
“We realized that we were alive,” Morse said.
After opening his eyes in the heavy, dark, and sinking mud, Morse said that the first thing he thought of was his 10-month-old son Fortress.
“It’s just this thing in your head, you like it, it doesn’t take me.”
Morse said that the survival mode had begun, and he believed that the jeep moved a little bit to allow them to escape.
“That was when I saw the dawn, the sunlight passed through the woods from my side, and we could only crawl out of my side in some way.”
The two men were soaked and muddy, and managed to climb through the woods to the road where they saw two women also caught between two mudslides.
“They are looking for a relative who no longer exists,” Morse said.
Morse said that even when they were panicking, these women managed to snatch jackets for him and Luke.
“One punch”: The woman’s family was killed and the man disappeared in a landslide in British Columbia looking for answers
Gordon Rennie stepped in to assist his wife Kathie. Kathie is a well-trained senior first responder with many years of experience in the construction industry. He described seeing a man who turned out to be Moore. Sri Lanka’s man stumbled out of the muddy slide.
“He was covered with mud from head to toe,” Gordon said.
“The only thing you can see is his eyes.”
Morse said that an off-duty firefighter used a rope to cross the slide to rescue him-before he was taken to Renee’s truck-Casey wrapped him in her husband’s clothes.
Noah Morse was in the car of the kindhearted Casey Rainey, who gave him some clothes to wear after a mudslide near Lillooet on November 15.
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“In my wildest dream, I never thought anyone could get rid of it. Forever, forever,” Casey told Global News on Thursday.
Morse said that his brother-in-law stayed to help the search and was dressed and cared for by a group of hunters who also jumped into the scene to help.
Although not knowing what else might hit them, Morse said the random group of “angels” pushed forward to make sure everyone was okay.
“I will never forget the way people look up at this mountain, just know that it is there, know the possibilities,” Morse said.
“You can see that people are afraid,’Will it happen again?'”
Morse said that a snow removal truck could eventually push enough debris from the original slide to clear a road for the vehicle.
Noah Morse was outside the Pemberton Health Center, where he was checked after being rescued from a landslide on Highway 99 on November 15.
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He and his brother-in-law both arrived at Pemberton, where Morse said they walked into the emergency room of the local medical center like zombies—but they re-believe in the humanity that got them there.
Morse said it was unbelievable to see the wreckage of the destroyed Jeep in Global News aerial footage.
“It’s just an affirmation of the impossible,” he said.
The body of a Lower Mainland woman buried in a slide was found on Tuesday, and officials confirmed on Saturday that they had found the remains of three other men. One man is still missing.
After the two flew home from Kamloops, Morse was reunited with his wife Julie and their children on Thursday. He said that their hearts are with the families of those who have not figured it out.
“I can’t get rid of it, I don’t know if I will do it,” he said.
