Traffic was closed on Route 194 in Alna the morning of July 5 near Head Tide Hill after an elderly woman’s car wound up in the Sheepsot River. The woman, Marjory Whitehurst, of Alna, was unharmed.

If Whitehurst had not been driving slow, Alna fire officials would have been facing a difficult water rescue on a fairly deep, fast-moving part of the Sheepscot River, Assistant Fire Chief Roger Whitney said.

“It could have been worse,” Whitney said of the accident reported shortly before 8:30 a.m. July 5.

A Wiscasset ambulance crew examined Whitehurst, but she did not have to go to a hospital. “I’m fine,” she told reporters.

Whitehurst was out of the car and on land when emergency officials arrived at the scene on Head Tide Road. Whitehurst lives across the road from the river. Authorities did not immediately know what caused the car to leave the road.

Only the rear wheels and bumper were in the water, Whitney said. There were no known fuel leaks, but he called the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to the scene as a precaution..

As of 10 a.m., Bob Blagden of Wiscasset and his wrecker were under way with pulling the vehicle back up to the road. Head Tide Road near Head Tide Hill remained closed to traffic.

The Alna First Responders and the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department also responded to the accident.

Susan Johns can be reached at 207-844-4633 or sjohns@wiscassetnewspaper.com