Late Wednesday night when heavy rains washed out a section of Freeborn County Road 34 in Oakland Township, 52-year-old Dale Wangen of rural Albert Lea couldn’t have expected what he encountered.

He only lived a few miles away.

It would have been close to pitch black at the time late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning when the gray Ford Taurus station wagon he was driving struck an embankment and submerged in the water below what used to be the road.

Then, afterward, another man’s white Mazda went over the edge, too.

“People are expecting these roads to be there; they’re used to traveling them,” said Bob Kindler, with the Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office.

“But because of the swirling waters and the churning of the water, it damaged these roads.”

The man in the second vehicle managed to make a 911 phone call to the dispatch center at 1:05 a.m. Thursday, notifying law enforcement officials of the situation.

He stated he was unhurt but unable to get to solid ground because of the rushing water.

Though he was safely brought to solid ground, upon rescue he informed the enforcement officials that his vehicle was actually resting on top of another vehicle that was completely submerged within the washout area. This vehicle belonged to Wangen.

To their dismay, after a rapid-water recovery of the submerged vehicle, the Albert Lea Fire Department raised the second vehicle and found Wangen deceased inside.

Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office reports stated that Wangen’s vehicle was most likely southbound on County Road 34 during heavy rain, when he encountered the washout — the drop off in the road. He most likely struck the embankment on the south side of the washout before plummeting into the moving water and submerging.

His official cause of death is still unknown. Whether he officially died from the impact of hitting the embankment or from drowning will be explained in the medical examiner’s report, which should be available early this week.

But in the meantime, as the community mourns the untimely death of Wangen, Kindler warned other community residents to pay close attention to their surroundings, especially during times of heavy rain. Something like this could very easily happen in other places.

“That road’s always been there, but that particular night the culvert was unable to handle the amount of rain we had,” he said.

County Road 34 was closed Thursday morning indefinitely.

Funeral services for Wangen will be at 1 p.m. Tuesday at Oakland Lutheran Church in Albert Lea.