Husband escapes, wife missing after car swept off roadway in B.C. mudslide

CACHE CREEK, B.C. — Search crews are looking for a woman who was inside a vintage convertible that was swept off a highway in a mudslide in the province’s Interior on Saturday.

RCMP Sgt. Janelle Shoihet said Mounties responded to Highway 99 in Cache Creek and found the 57-year-old male driver of the yellow 1968 Morgan convertible.

The man told officers that he’d been able to get out of the car, but he didn’t know what had happened to his wife, 57-year-old Valerie Morris, said Shoihet.

“He was unsure what had happened. He was too engaged in getting out of the vehicle himself, and he wasn’t sure what had happened with his wife,” she said.

Officers assume Morris was trapped in the convertible and unable to get out, but at this point can’t confirm whether she’s still in the car, said Shoihet.

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Pieces of the vehicle have been found but not the entire car, she added.

Mounties are now asking for the public’s help in finding Morris, who is five feet two inches tall with auburn hair and hazel eyes.

RCMP want to see any dashboard camera video and speak with any witnesses. There may have been a motor home driving near the convertible before the slide and Mounties hope to speak with the occupants, said Shoihet.

The couple had attended the Kamloops car show with the vintage vehicle and may have been driving home to Sechelt at the time of the slide, she said.

The husband, whose name is not being released, is being treated in hospital for minor, non-life-threatening injuries, she added.

She said Ashcroft RCMP, Search and Rescue and fire crews are continuing to search for Morris, but quickly moving water and unsafe conditions around the area of the mudslide are hampering their efforts.

Highway 99 remained closed on Monday in both directions near the intersection with Highway 97 because of the slide.

Heavy rains fell in the region on the weekend and caused a series of slides along the stretch of road.

Emergency Management B.C. said six people were evacuated safely from a home near Ashcroft because of a landslide in the area.

(The Canadian Press, CFJC)

The Canadian Press