Woman fell into 10ft sewage-filled puddle while getting out of car after night out
A woman has described how she thought she might drown in a 10ft sinkhole she mistook for a puddle.
Laura Gerber fell into the hole while getting out of a car in Watford, Hertfordshire, at 2.30am last Sunday.
Laura said: ‘I stepped backwards to let someone else out of the car and dropped straight into a sinkhole. I hit my back on the way down and massively injured myself.’
‘After gasping for breath under the water and somewhat managing to keep myself afloat, I managed to gain strength and pull myself up. All that I was thinking in those moments was that this is the end.’
Laura said that she is thankful that she was the one to fall through the hole rather than someone who had less strength than her.
She said: ‘This could’ve been a child, a car, the elderly, literally anyone.
‘If I have hit my head instead of my back and lost consciousness I would’ve gone under and due to the current below I would’ve gotten completely lost and never been found again,’ she said.
Her boyfriend Jason Topping told the Watford Observer: ‘Her whole head went under and she swallowed sewage water.
‘It’s not nice to say but luckily she hit her back so her arms went out and she stopped herself.
‘If she didn’t, I probably wouldn’t have a girlfriend here today. As she put her hands to the side and managed to claw on and, in a miracle, climbed out.’
She was taken to Watford General Hospital where doctors grew concerned she had leptospirosis, also called Weil’s disease, which is spread through animal urine.
‘This can be life-threatening,’ Laura said of the infection that can cause high temperatures, nausea, rashes and chest pain.
‘All I ask is if ever you come into contact with sewage PLEASE be seen immediately.’
On Monday, Laura’s health took a turn for the worse as she vomited three times and could not stomach food.
Jason said: ‘I’ve never seen so much vomit come out of a woman.’
Laura was taken back to the hospital and was still there as of Tuesday.
Laura added: ‘I’ve always used the saying about life flashing before your eyes but honestly, my life has never flashed before my eyes like this before.’
Metro.co.uk contacted Watford Borough Council for comment.
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