Jeep pulled from Loyalhanna Creek in Derry Twp.

Paul Peirce | Thursday, March 4, 2021 9:00 a.m.

Paul Peirce | Tribune-Review

The underbelly of an SUV that crashed into the Loyalhanna Creek in Derry Township on Monday is now visible after the water receded this week.

A Jeep was pulled from the Loyalhanna Creek between the Kingston Dam and Sleepy Hollow causeway in Derry Township Thursday, thanks to the Westmoreland County swift water rescue team that hooked up tow truck cables to the submerged vehicle.

Some members of the team worked on the undercarriage of the overturned vehicle to ties cables to the rear axle while other team members stood along the shore downstream of the vehicle to rescue anyone who fell into the water and had to jump into the fast-flowing stream to escape injury.

It took the water rescue team and the tow truck from Watt’s Truck Center in Salem about 30 minutes to secure the cables to the vehicle and pull it up the embankment and over the guardrail.

A driver and passenger were inside the Grand Cherokee Monday afternoon when it hydroplaned on the wet roadway of Route 30 westbound, overturned and rolled over the guardrail, plunging into the snow-melted and rain-swollen stream, state police said. It floated downstream about 50 yards before being wedged on a rock and a log.

Two people in the SUV were taken to AHN Forbes Hospital in Monroeville for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. State police at the scene did not identify the occupants of the vehicle.

On Monday, the water level was so high that it covered all but a portion of one tire. The exposed underbelly of the overturned Jeep was visible about a quarter-mile ast of the highway’s intersection with Route 217.

Bradenville Fire Chief Mark Piantine used the word “lucky” to describe the two people who floated downstream after escaping the wreckage before it overturned and wedged into a tree in the creek.

The pair made it to shore about 200 yards downstream, but had to be assisted up the hillside to an ambulance, first responders said.

Because of the high water level, emergency crews opted not to remove the vehicle because of safety concerns for water rescue teams from Bradenville, Lloydsville and New Alexandria fire departments.

Piantine said that another vehicle had plunged into the Loyalhanna Creek near the same spot a few years ago.

The Loyalhanna was among four waterways nominated for the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resource’s 2021 River of the Year, though it lost out to the Shenango River in Mercer County.