Wisconsin man survives hours buried in snow

[jakeXT]

Source: Associated Press

MILWAUKEE — A Wisconsin man who spent four hours buried at the end of his driveway in more than two feet of snow after going to his mailbox during this week’s blizzard says he just closed his eyes and wondered if it would be the day he died.


...

"There I was, lying on my backside and there was this snow. I tried to get up, but couldn’t do it," said Latta, who lives alone. Then a snowplow rumbled by, the driver never spotting Latta in the deep snow. The plow’s spray buried Latta, leaving only a gloved hand free. Latta thought someone would eventually find him. Hours later, Latta started losing hope.

"I just closed my eyes and wondered if I would die," he said.

About 9 a.m., neighbor Betsy Nelson looked out her window and spotted what she thought was a little animal jumping in Latta’s snow bank. Nelson retrieved her binoculars and spotted the glove, then she called another neighbor, off-duty firefighter Todd Herrington. He crossed the street and found Latta’s hand inside the glove. Herrington started digging, but said he didn’t expect to find his neighbor alive. Latta’s nose and eyes were packed with snow.

Read more: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/midwest/view/20110204wisconsin_man_survives_hours_buried_in_snow/srvc=home&position=recent

[ananda]

1. Amazing story.

"It was enough to make me question my sanity."

Guess so.

[TwilightGardener]

2. His hand was free...he couldn't push away snow? I can't see how

a healthy adult can't get free of 2-2 1/2 ft. of snow, at least in a non-avalanche situation. I'd have to assume he wasn't in the best physical shape when he fell.

[jakeXT]

3. 66 years old

[TalkingDog]

7. So? Ever heard of Geezer Jocks?

[BobbyBoring]

13. Yes

Apparently, he wasn't one of them~

[TalkingDog]

14. Prolly not.

[ellenfl]

15. that guy's 54! how's he a geezer? jeez. eom

[Duppers]

17. STOP.

My hubby is 67 and I'm 64. You're way under-estimating the physical abilities of this age group.

Perhaps you're thinking in terms of 86. Normal people at 66 are NOT that weak.

[jakeXT]

19. I just posted it because it was missing in my 4 paragraph excerpt

You can run with 93 as seen in the documentary "autum gold", or you can be a wreck with 40.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc3jokGni5U

[HereSince1628]

5. Clearly he wasn't in the best physical shape, And plowed snow

is often wet and freezes solid almost immediately once it stops moving. If you're from a place with snow you know just how difficult the plows on the roads/streets make clearing the end of a driveway.

It's a very odd scenario, but that's why it was reported. Man falls in snow and gets up and walks to house isn't much of hook.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Know so well what you're saying. Our drive was cleared 5 times in one day

in the last storm, and when the snow plow blew by, it shoved an enormous pile of snow right back on us. That stuff is heavy, and wet, just as you said. It's a nightmare.

If you fell just as the plow passed, you'd be truly screwn in a bad storm, like being buried in cement.

[ellenfl]

16. apparently he was flat on his back. eom

[Thor_MN]

24. I'm guessing you don't live in snow country

Plowed snow is almost exactly like avalanche snow, except that it probably has salt and sand mixed in, making it heavier. It isn't churned as much, but the process of plowing mixes and warms it such that it sets hard quickly if it's cold.

[Evasporque]

26. Road snow from the plow is like cement....nasty heavy...nt

[uppityperson]

25. Being shoved onto him via snowplow made it like avalanche cement.

[redwitch]

4. Paging Will Pitt...

:P

[AngryAmish]

6. "Honey, hold my beer and watch this"

Most common last words in Wisconsin.

[HereSince1628]

8. Spoken like a true sore loser...

:hi:

It's very unlikely that a Wisconsinite would use "honey." The rest of it is pretty much true!

[AngryAmish]

10. aawww, man. you had to bring that up.

[Judi Lynn]

9. Apparently he was really screwed after he fell. From the article:

About 9 a.m., neighbor Betsy Nelson looked out her window and spotted what she thought was a little animal jumping in Latta’s snow bank. Nelson retrieved her binoculars and spotted the glove, then she called another neighbor, off-duty firefighter Todd Herrington. He crossed the street and found Latta’s hand inside the glove. Herrington started digging, but said he didn’t expect to find his neighbor alive. Latta’s nose and eyes were packed with snow.

"That’s all I saw was a face that was like in a snow coffin and stuff, just a face in the snow," Herrington told WMTV-TV in Madison.

Janesville Police Officer Todd Schumann was one of the first to respond to the scene. Schumann said Latta "was frozen stiff and shivering," but was conscious. There were no footprints leading to the house, so Schumann knew Latta had been buried for a while. Schumann said Latta was under 29 inches of snow.

Anyone who is so inaccessable under the snow a neighbor can't get him out and must enlist help from others is REALLY in a bad spot.

I am so glad his neighbor spotted him before he froze to death.

[eggplant]

18. As my brother the doctor says...

You aren't dead until you are *warm* and dead.

[thereismore]

12. Snow is a good thermal insulator. nt

[jay-3d]

20. My neighbor was not so lucky

She was found dead under 10" of snow late tuesday night next to my backyard... We don't know what happened.

[FailureToCommunicate]

22. Sorry to hear that jay-3d.

(I posted the next comment before yours went up. I don't want you to think I was making light of your sad news)

[FailureToCommunicate]

21. My great great uncle went out to check on the animals in the (sod) barn

during a snow. His brother finally found him a few days later, quite frozen. He'd gotten disoriented in the blizzard...

His brother moved back to town (Sioux City) after that experience.

Nature can be unforgiving.

Glad Latta is okay.

[DollyM]

23. Every one needs to check on elderly or disabled neighbors . . .

I live in southern Illinois, many of us have not had power for three days. We have had so much ice on the power line that our power is on but it is sporadic. We have a fireplace and a gas stove so we get by okay. My 82 year old neighbor has neither so we checked on her frequently. Police have finally started going door to door hear checking on people after they found one elderly woman in her house, her hands had turned purple and she was in very bad shape.
I am guessing that people in Wisconsin get so much snow that they don't think to check on an elderly neighbor, either that or their neighbor was from Illinois originally and they . . . well, we won't go there will we . . .(having moved from Illinois to Wisconsin for one year and experiencing the snide remarks and downright hateful behavior from our Wisconsin "neighbors", we were glad to return to southern Illinois--yeah that is like five hours from Chicago!)