Giants' Weatherford Survives Turnpike Crash, Saves Driver On Flooded Road

Even some of the world’s top athletes can’t fight Mother Nature.

New York Giants punter Steve Weatherford learned that firsthand Sunday night, when portions of New Jersey were hit with torrential downpours and flash flooding.

Due to the storms, Weatherford’s Sunday flight from southern California to Newark was cancelled, and the football player was forced to fly into Washington D.C. and take a rental car to northern New Jersey to make Monday morning’s practice. He was spending time with his newborn baby daughter, J.J., in San Diego, according to his Facebook page.

“This is where it gets crazy,” Weatherford said in his Facebook post.

“It was already too late to train or bus to N.J., so I rented a car so I don’t miss practice (Monday),” the post said. “Three hours into my trip I run into a massive body of water on the N.J. turnpike, I hydroplane, slam into the median, get blasted in the face by the air bags. My rental is totaled, and I walked out without a scratch.”

Weatherford goes on to say he dialed 9-1-1 and “the finest Highway Patrol in America, the N.J. State Police, come to the rescue and offer me a ride back to Hoboken. These guys didn’t do it because they were football fans; they didn’t even know who I was or what I do.”

>>Related:

• Flash Flood Warning Remains In Effect Until Midnight
• Hoboken Faces Flood Damage After Sunday Storm
• WATCH: Hoboken Streets Flood As Storm Hits
• WEATHER ALERT: Flash Flood Watch in Effect for South Jersey

But wait, there’s more.

During a morning phone interview with WFAN’s Boomer and Carton Monday, Weatherford explained that just 90 seconds after he exited his vehicle and got out of the roadway, another car hit the same puddle and smashed into his rental car.

“So I jump and run out of my car and I’m not kidding you, 90 seconds later, a guy hits the same pit of water, spins twice and hits my car,” Weatherford said in the interview. ”I thought the guy was dead. I sprint up to his car. I’m trying to open his door, it’s bent shut. I’m trying to open the passenger door, it’s bent shut. So finally, I like rip open the back-right door… I’m trying to gently hit this guy’s shoulder and trying to wake him up because a third car could definitely, easily come and [hit] us.”

Weatherford said he stayed with the man until first responders and medical aid arrived, but was pretty sure the driver sustained “a busted nose and a concussion.”

Hear the full interview here.

Weatherford names Officers Adam Brozek and Kim Smith for coming to his aid, and said, “God saved me, and the N.J. State Troopers delivered me.”

The full Facebook post is below.