First responders prepared for the worst.
Kaitlyn Watts of Sweet Home had crashed her vehicle while driving on Highway 20 east of Sweet Home and plunged into the Santiam River. The water was swift, rising and Watts was trapped in the driver seat.
“As command, that was one of the longest drives I ever made,” recalls Christian Whitfield, divsion chief with Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District (SHFAD). “Hearing that information and knowing we were most likely going to a recovery, we fully expected to have somebody deceased underwater.”…