Man, 92, survives below-freezing night after falling down Oregon embankment

A 92-year-old survived the night in below-freezing temperatures last week after abandoning his car and slipping down the embankment of an Oregon highway.

Larry Hendrickson defied death by covering himself in vegetation he foraged, Oregon State Police said.

Henrickson had been reported as an “overdue” driver around 3 p.m. Nov. 7 and was last known to be driving west on I-84 in La Grande, a city in Oregon’s northwestern corner.

The next morning, officers spotted his abandoned car on a road off the highway.

“A short distance away, the troopers discovered the elderly male driver down an embankment,” police said.

Hendrickson was still hiding beneath the vegetation he scrounged up to survive the night of what police called “life-threatening cold weather conditions” when he was found by the troopers.

Temperatures dropped to as low as 11 degrees that night, weather data shows, and was still well below freezing when he was finally discovered.

Miraculously, he was conscious and breathing, OSP said.

Hendrickson was rushed to a hospital and is expected to make a full recovery.

“We are grateful for this positive outcome. Cold weather exposure can be life-threatening and another night in these conditions may have been fatal,” said Captain Kyle Kennedy, Oregon State Police, in a statement.