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‘I’m buried alive’: Driver caught in Colorado avalanche shares terrifying experience

Posted at 7:04 PM, Mar 08, 2019
and last updated 2019-03-08 19:04:08-05

FRISCO, Colo. - An avalanche buried drivers on 100 feet of road on Colorado State Highway 91 in nearly 20 feet of snow, rocks and snapped trees Thursday.

Minutes after the road was reopened from a safety closure, Eric Borre – a snowcat driver – said everything went black in his 2006 Subaru Outback.

“All I saw was a tidal wave, sun gets shaded out,” Boree said. “And I’m getting pushed and I stopped on my side, almost upside down.”

The highway had not been reached by an avalanche in decades.

“And I was thinking, ‘That was the most amazing thing that’s ever happened to me,'” he said.

Now that everybody in the avalanche is safe, Borre is able to laugh about the experience he had, but a 911 call Borre made from snow-covered car tells a different story.

“I’m buried alive. [It’s] pitch black. How long is it going to take for someone to get to me?” he said.

As he listened to the snow hit the top of his car, Borre said he was worried about how long it might take to find him.

It only took first responders about 10 minutes to find Borre and dig him out of his car.

“I was on the phone with 911, buried, then state troopers started digging off the door,” Borre said. “I seen the light coming through the window and I thought, ‘OK, it’ll be alright.'”

Borre’s car is in a tow lot in Frisco and needs a new windshield, among many other repairs, but says he's been blessed by the grace of God.

"It's the only thing that saved me," Borre said.