Charlene Deherrera was miraculously saved in 2006 from downing in her SUV and it was all caught on video! It only took few minutes for her SUV to start sinking into 10 feet of water caused from flash flooding

All of the windows on her vehicle are up and you see the car floating slowly into deeper water where it then goes under.

You see several people on the video trying to break the windows to get her out. The man you see in the photo is Dr. Khosla and he was the first to swim out to help her. He said “I gotta tell you I was putting a lot of force and I was getting nowhere. And I just was frustrated and the woman was actually, I believe at that point toward the back of the car and she had her hands in there and she was screaming at me. And so I could see this poor person and I was frustrated because I couldn’t get anything done.”

Howard Absetz was finally felt her arm after almost a full minute through what he thought was her driver window and was able to pull her up and out of the water. “To actually feel her grasp my arm was a real shock,” Absetz said. “And then the second time she grasped my arm, I knew right then I could get her out.”

When the SUV was pulled from the water all of the doors were shut. All of the windows were intact and closed tight. How did she get out?

Mythbusters did an episode (#72) on getting out of a car underwater. What they were able to find is you cannot break a window even only submerged in 2 feet of water unless you have a window breaking hammer. You cannot roll the window down under water. They tested this using a test weight of 350 lbs (equivalent to pressure differential from just two feet of immersion), the pressure of the window glass against the frame is so great that no amount of effort can move the gear. You are more likely to break the window handle than roll it down. Also power windows still cannot overcome the pressure differential. Let me remind you now that the windows were intact and closed tight

Another explanation is that the man was mistaken that it was the window and she came out through the door. Mythbusters found you can open the door only after the vehicle is fully filled with water because the pressure differential between outside and inside when the car is submerged is too great for a man to force the door open. To get it open the pressure must first be equalized, which means the interior must be fully flooded first. When they conducted the test Adam was forced to resort to emergency air during his first test. A second test Adam escaped only by remaining calm and not attempting to open the door until the interior is well and truly flooded, so as to conserve oxygen while holding your breath.

When you watch the video the time the passes does not look like it is long enough for the SUV to fully fill. She was screaming and acting frustrated according to the doctor who was trying to bust the window open. Therefore she was not calm and conserving oxygen. When they pulled the SUV all of the doors were closed. So how did she escape?

Now watch the video 🙂