And I am soooo tired of seeing comments left by superior people who talk like they have never made an error in judgement in their lives. To begin with, you don't know for fact that the driver was "ignorant". Maybe he was driving along and saw this family walking and offered them a ride. Or maybe they were on their way home from out of state when the storm hit and stopped to stock up on groceries. They were at a grocery store that was apparently open, and there were witnesses to the accident, so others were out too. Or is the entire city of Albany ignorant in your mind? Could be that the weather conditions didn't seem to be too bad, couldn't it, given all the people that were there. The man apparently thought the overflowing creek was a road. Water can look downright black under the right conditions. Children also die in accidents in GOOD weather. An adult stupidly deciding to drive in horrendous weather with kids in the car may not be part of this picture. I'm sorry for the loss. Adding "stupid" to this sadness is uncalled for.

Nik - Re-read the article. It doesn't matter how the people ended up in the car, it was still a stupid mistake that the driver made by trying to drive down a creek. If the road was unfamiliar (out-of-staters) or the creek looked like a road, it was still stupid to continue on not knowing the road conditions.

Nikolaus20... I never drove into a creek before... see.

I'm a little confused on how the driver and another kid made it to the hospital, but we dont have a clue how many people were in the car.

That said, i'll never quite understand how parents of children can save themselves...and let their children die. Hell, if it was my nephew or niece, id die by their side...rather than save myself, and let them go out of this world terrified and alone.

Without knowing all the facts, which you don't, it's a bit presumptious for you to throw stones at the parents

I am sooo tired of comments

I watched this story on the local news last night, so sad. As far as what happened a tiny creek rose up and became a flat surface that looked like pavement. The road had a giant storm drain that sucked the can under the road. I have a five year old and this story hurts my heart, child seats are very secure ours has three buckles. I told my husband that I feel like we should carry a knife in the car because I don't know what would happen in a state of emergency. No need to judge this is a sad accident with a heart breaking outcome.

"Hey honey, it's one of the worst storms to hit our area in years. Lets load up the kids and go for a ride."

"Worst storm" is relative. The storm is only rain in most areas. It doesn't rise to the level of panic, or even changing one's normal routine and habits. It's just really wet out and the creeks and rivers are quite high. These people simply made a mistake and got into trouble. It's not like we are under curfew and the emergency klaxons are blaring. Get a little perspective before you make silly comments like that.

They were in a grocery store parking lot and turned into a creek that looked like the road...wow. People, how about some compassion instead of pointing out things you don't know...making it up and assuming. Nice.

I second that. I can barely stand to think about how terrifying that would have been for the 2 year old child. Breaks my heart to hear of this kind of thing. Honestly wish it wouldn't be reported.

Do you live here? Is that what the story said? Reread it a$$hole, a child died and you want to say it was on purpose.

I live in Oregon, and I've lived in Albany, though not currently. The media has hyped up this storm into more than it is. We get bad rain storms all the time. If we didn't learn to deal with them and go about our business, nothing would happen in this state. We've had a very long dry spell this winter and this is the first big rain we've had in months. The storm drains are always clogged the first big rain of the year. When they clog, roads flood and look like rivers. At worst this was a mistake by a distracted driver. A very sad, tragic mistake. Please don't be so caviler in your judgements of others or believe every thing you read or hear in the national media. Their job is to sensationalize events to make a profit.

The only "ignorance" involved here is that displayed by several of the previous Newsvine posters whom have presumed to judge the conditions here and the motivations and/or misjudgments of the driver.

For everyone's information there is major flooding, quickly rising streams which have covered the roadways, and emergency operations by police, fire departments and emergency operations centers all over the Willamette Valley between Portland and Eugene Oregon at this moment.

The heavy snows which fell were immediately followed by heavy warm rains, and hundreds were caught in their vehicles unable to return on roadways they had traveled literally minutes before because of the speed which the streams have risen. Anyone whom does not live in a 90-mile long valley surrounded by mountains may have a difficult time understanding how quickly streams can rise as the sudden snow-melt rushes toward the only river drainage-way at the same time from all directions.

Once the roadway is concealed by even an inch of murky, brown, muddy water ... it is IMPOSSIBLE to see the roadbed. Nobody, no matter how cautious and intelligent, could proceed through these heavy rains and rising water with absolute certainty of where they are when they can't see the roadway and are surrounded by water. Flooding streams in the circumstances we have here at this very moment look EXACTLY like roadways!

So I suggest that those of you whom have appointed yourselves "all-seeing-know-it-alls-of-the-day" remember that a child has died, the child's mother is still missing and presumed drowned, emergency operations are underway all over the Willamette Valley of my State and other lives are presently at risk, .... and GIVE IT A REST!

I have been in a similar accident. A traditional family reunion was held under a grove of trees in the middle of a large field. The front entrance was accessed by a dirt road. We were told we could go to a closer roadway at the rear of the field (through the grass) with our truck. We were not warned of a large drainage ditch that ran alongside the roadway.

Grass grew tall in that ditch to the same level of the grass in the field. Recent rain had filled the ditch to it's capacity of 10 ft. deep. On a moonless evening with headlights on bright, there was no way to tell that the ditch existed. After our plunge, the only evidence was a totally submerged truck and three healthy young men swimming to the roadway.

We were not doing drugs or booze. We were responsible young adults hoping to take a quicker route home after a long day. I related my experience in detail. Many news articles are short on details. Conjecture to fill in those unknown details is useless. We have nothing to gain and much to lose by making fools of ourselves. All the while, we are hurting people that are already hurting more than I can imagine.

Apparently some people have never heard of FLASH floods.

Know how they came by that name? Because in a FLASH, that little creek you were walking by can rise up to a dangerous level and wash everything away. You can't know when it will happen and you have to be extremely careful when walking by any body of water, no matter if its a little trickle.

Stop being so dang judgemental.

Media vita in morte sumus.

The midst of life we are in death.

I prefer in the midst of death, we are in life.

If there is a heaven, they probably wouldn't let children die so horribly.

There is a Heaven and thankfully, that child is in Jesus' arms.

There is a Heaven and thankfully, that child is in Jesus' arms.

I thought santa was at the north pole or do they call it heaven now. Sorry that people died but we are all dying from the moment we are conceived.

re-read, that was a person who saw the accident, and tried to help.

The car was sinking into a fast moving stream. He didn't likely have a lot of time to make judgements. Maybe instead of chastizing you should be praising him for saving anyone

It's a common practice to try to drive down creeks?

@the thinker--

let's try some of that, eh?

Bad weather conditions likely means poor visibility. Is there a road that runs alongside the creek? A road that was maybe flooded over? Or maybe it just appeared to be asphalt due to the lighting conditions and snow fall.

Is it "common practice to try to drive down creeks?" Don't be a boob. Of course not. But is there the possibility that such a thing might occur as a result of extant visibility conditions? Absolutely. Things like that (unfortunately) happen pretty frequently in bad weather. Remember those ducks that slammed into a Walmart parking lot thinking it was a lake? Yeah: water and asphalt can and do look similar under certain conditions.

Gee, I hope none of you EVER make a mistake. Stay home in inclement weather so you don't risk looking like a moron. Stay home in sunny weather, cause accidents happen during the day too ya know. We wouldn't want anybody to blame you for a mistake you may have caused. Why don't you just go live in a cave so your house will never run the risk of catching on fire from faulty wires.

Mistakes happen every single day. We don't need jerkoffs like you to point fingers. A baby and its mother died because of a mistake, feel sorry for the loss of life.

This happened near me. This time of year, it rains and rains all the time. We don't really think too much of it. If you need groceries, etc, you just go get them. The ground gets wet, and there is often standing water in the roads. It gets dark early this time of year, it is almost pitch black by 5 pm. So, when a regular street can look like a stream, and it is dark, and rainy, and visibility is poor, this kind of thing could easily happen. It is heartbreaking that a child and most likely the child's mother lost their lives to a mistake.

The frightening thing is, a road under two inches of water, a road under two feet of water, and a stream all look the same in dim light. It is noon here now, and in this weather it is still very dim outside. We can't stay inside forever. We'd be inside all winter if we waited for the rain to stop!

'the thinker-318752' wrote:

"It's a common practice to try to drive down creeks?"

REPLY: Wow! You need to find a new Newsvine nickname.

"Yourselfs" is not a word neither is lifes If you were a better mother you would know that.

Thanks for the information, Bob. It never ceases to amaze me how many posters will make up crap off a few facts and judge, ridicule, and criticize people who have had misfortune. I can promise you that no one reading here hasn't done something that wasn't the best judgment in life, too, so how about stop a moment and think how you would feel in a situation before you start making up nonsense without facts or assuming YOU would be an amazing superhero?

I am sorry for the family's loss and I wish them peace and healing.

I watched this horrific story on our late local news last night as well. Witnesses claimed the car was swept away from the parking lot. I live in a an area that has flooding at times and the local Sheriff department here closes off areas that are potentially close to swollen creeks. I do not know the exact circumstances, but I wonder had this area been marked off with hazard signs or cones possibly the driver might have avoided being swept away.Perhaps the water rose so quickly the authorities did not have time to implement any warnings. It's hard to speculate but totally unfair to judge this family for this tragic accident.