Calif. Man Gets Call and Walks Away from Car Minutes Before Boulder Crushes It: 'Saved My Life'
"If I'm this lucky, I should probably play the lotto right now," joked Mauricio Henao, who narrowly avoided a rockslide thanks to a call from his girlfriend
A California man is thankful to be alive after a close call with a falling boulder.
Mauricio Henao was in the driver's seat last week before he received a call from his girlfriend, according to KCAL-TV, which prompted him to get out of the vehicle.
"She said 'Hey, check the bag I left in the house," Henao recalled. "I went inside and that's when the noise started coming from the front of the house."
Related: Cop Films Massive Boulders Tumbling onto Road During Rockslide amid Calif. Storms — See the Video
Just minutes after he was in the car, which was parked along a hillside on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, Henao's vehicle was crushed by a four-foot boulder.
"The rock is the size of the whole hood," he told the CW station KTLA. "The windshields are all broken and the frame of the car is just all twisted."
"I felt goose bumps because if wasn't for that call," Henao told KCAL, "I probably wouldn't be here or somebody else could have died."
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Although nobody was injured, another vehicle parked nearby was also damaged, according to KTLA.
"I'm kind of glad my car was there," resident Nick Kennedy, whose car was parked in the driveway at the time of the rockslide, told the station. "I don't know if [the rocks] would have gone through the wall of the house and nailed me because my desk is right on the other side of that wall."
When Henao saw the damage to his car, he was shaken-up, but deeply grateful.
"I said thank you for calling me because you saved my life," he recalled saying to his girlfriend, per KCAL.
And while Henao said he may never park in the same spot again, he joked that maybe he should put his good fortune to use. "If I'm this lucky, I should probably play the lotto right now," he told the outlet.
RELATED VIDEO: Mom and Daughter Saved in Dramatic Rescue After Sinkhole Swallows 2 Cars in Storm-Battered California
Although a weak storm is expected to hit California on Wednesday, its tenth atmospheric river since Christmas, it appears the state is finally getting a break from extreme weather, according to NBC News and CNN.
Lt. Gov Eleni Kounalakis told CNN that after "four years with very little rain," the state experienced "about a year's worth of rainfall" in just three weeks.
In the wake of heavy flooding and mudslides, Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Monday that at least 20 people have died as a result of the storms, while thousands were forced to evacuate from their homes.
"With lingering storms expected through midweek, the state continues to work with local and federal partners to prepare for and respond to flooding, debris flow and other storm-related emergencies," Newsom wrote in an executive order aimed at providing continued aid to impacted communities.
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