An 80-year-old man died trying to drive through a flooded North Carolina road on Tuesday as the state dealt with a historic rainfall event , according to highway officials.
The North Carolina State Highway Patrol received a call about a submerged vehicle after Richard Walton Robinson drove a blue Subaru Crosstrek SUV around stationary Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office vehicles and into high water on NC 211, the highway patrol said in a release.
Officials said the sheriff’s office vehicles were stopped in the road with blue lights on because of flood waters at the Lockwood Folly River Bridge. The road was impassable, authorities said.
The incident happened around 12:17 a.m. in Brunswick County, about 34 miles southwest of Wilmington, the highway patrol said in a news release.
When Robinson drove around the sheriff’s office vehicles, his SUV became fully submerged. A water rescue team showed up and tried to find his vehicle to no avail.
The next day, first responders went back to find the SUV. The Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office Dive Team found the vehicle with Robinson deceased inside.