Van slides into house when it hydroplanes during downpour

By Jean Cole
jean@athensnews-courier.com

May 08, 2008 09:22 pm

— Just what Jared Strickland hoped to avoid happened Thursday afternoon.
The 23-year-old Athens man was driving north on Lucas Ferry Road during the thunderstorm that struck Limestone County when his van began to hydroplane.
“I hit the muddy grass, and there was no way I was going to stop,” said Strickland, a tall, thin man with a fishhook in his ball cap. “The only thing I was hoping was not to hit the white building. But that’s exactly what happened.”
He struck the back of C&T Feed at the corner of Lucas Ferry and West Market Street, breaking a small hole in the business, bending a natural gas line in its wall and bruising the front of his van.
Athens Fire and Police departments were on the scene and the gas to the business was shut off.
“I was on my way home from work when it happened,” said Strickland, who is a home remodeler.
Maybe he could work out a deal on some remodeling at C&T.

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