Woman Pulled From Huge Sinkhole Moments Before Van Plunges In [VIDEO]

STUDIO CITY, CA — Los Angeles Firefighters were able to rescue a woman from a huge sinkhole that swallowed up her car Friday just moments before a van plunged in atop her overturned vehicle.

The woman, Stephanie Scott, told KTLA News it’s a miracle she made it out alive. The rescue was one of dozens firefighters made Friday as the heaviest storm to hit Los Angeles in years flooded freeways, knocked over dozens of trees and downed more than 150 power lines, killing a man in Sherman Oaks.

Scott didn’t think she’d make it.

"My car kept turning and turning upside down and I just was like 'I got to stay calm'", Scott toldKTLA. "I felt the water coming up and I reached for the door and I opened the door and I climbed out. It's a total miracle, thank you God."

The firefighters risked their own lives kneeling over the precarious edge of the 20-foot sinkhole at North Laurel Canyon Boulevard. As a van teetered over the opposite edge and raging water rushed around Scott’s car, the firefighters lowered a ladder down to her, and she scrambled to safety.

Bobby Thompson’s minivan, which had one wheel dangling over the sinkhole when Scott’s car plunged into it, fell into the void within 10 minutes of her rescue, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Thompson told KTLA he tried to stop Scott from driving into the hole, but she couldn’t see him in the downpour.

"I seen the other lady driving down the street and I'm trying to wave at her and tell her to stop," Thompson told the news station. "... with the rain coming down, she didn't see me. So she drove right over the sinkhole, and her front tire got caught and then she fell sideways."

Paramedics took Scott to a nearby hospital after she was rescued.

Photo: KTLA SCREENGRAB