Harrowing Tale: Avalanche Destroys SUV...With Young Family In It

A Pasco, Washington family survived an avalanche that blew out the windshield and pushed their SUV across a mountain pass road and into a retaining wall, then left them looking for a man who left behind his coat when he stopped to help.

Randall and Roxanna Parker and their two young daughters were driving home Wednesday on Interstate 90 from Seattle over Snoqualmie Pass when a snow slide slammed into their Nissan Pathfinder.

It smashed the windshield, covered them in ice and glass, and pushed the vehicle about 50 yards into a retaining wall.

The Tri-City Herald reports:

Tears welled up in the eyes of a Pasco father Thursday as he recalled how a family spring break trip turned to a nightmare in an instant.

Just 24 hours earlier, the Parkers were on their way home from Seattle when they got caught in an avalanche on Interstate 90's Snoqualmie Pass. Snow slammed into their SUV, covering them with ice and glass.

"We're not religious people, but God must have just said, 'It's not your time to go,' " Randall "Kent" Parker said after his family was safely back home. "I don't know how we survived it."

Kent suffered cuts on his face and head, and across the top of his hands as they clenched the steering wheel when the windshield and sunroof shattered.

His daughters, Nicole, 7, and Arianna, 3, were strapped into their car seats and didn't have a wound on them.

His wife, Roxanna, who goes by Tana, got the worst of it, suffering deep bruises and cuts to her upper chest from the impact of the heavy snow.

"We still have little bits of glass in our mouth and hair. I got all the pain on my chest from the snow (not the airbag). Thank goodness I didn't have any broken ribs," Tana said. "The pain -- it hurts so bad. But that's nothing for this terrible accident. We were so blessed."

Read their incredible story here.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.