LUMBERTON, Texas — A multi-vehicle pile-up on Highway 69 in Lumberton Monday evening caused the road to close for a few hours. One of the people caught in the crash is sharing his experience.
Matthew White from Groves drives this stretch of highway every day. It's the route he takes coming home from work in Silsbee.
What was suppose to be a normal trip for him, turned into a life or death situation because of the icy conditions.
The father of five says he's grateful to be alive. His car was right behind the 18-wheeler involved in the crash.
White had to run down an embankment to keep from being hit by other sliding cars.
"I didn't care how I got home or anything. I just wanted to get home safe and alive," said White.
White says that this pile-up, that left multiple vehicles mangled and drivers shaken up, was one of the worst wrecks he's ever seen.
"I did everything I knew to do turning into my slide.... I just didn't help," White said.
He was headed home after working in Silsbee but when he approached Cooks Lake Road, he noticed something out of the ordinary.
"I seen a guy on the other side of the highway waiving everyone down to slow down," he said.
That's when White saw multiple wrecks up ahead on the highway and the 18- wheeler he was following behind would be next.
"The trailer on it was fish-tailing real hard, and he missed the first set of cars, but then there were wrecks in front of him, and he ended up hitting those cars," said White.
Luckily, White was able to stop, but he was far from being out of danger.
"A few seconds later there was a Volkswagen Jetta.. like it was flying by... and it hit the red SUV and knocked into me. I jumped out of my car and yelled at the other people to get out of their cars, and we all ran down the embankment," he said.
After authorities closed the highway White took a video of the aftermath.
"I saw my coworker Aaron, he was on top of that vehicle helping pull a lady out," White said.
While his car was damaged, White thankfully escaped without a scratch. Now he's grateful to have made it home to his wife and five kids.
"You don't know what you have until you lose it. It's an eye opener on family. I love my family to death," said White.
Authorities closed the highway and the service road for several hours on Monday, but everything is back open tonight.
The Texas Department of Transportation hasn't been able to tell 12News if anyone was seriously hurt.