Wild weather may have contributed to the loss of a Cathlamet resident this weekend when a vehicle was driven off a 50 foot embankment into a creek on Saturday. The body of Richard Snyder, a longtime resident of Cathlamet, was found Sunday morning.

Snyder had been visiting friends in East Valley on Saturday morning, leaving their home around 10:30 a.m. The sheriff’s office received a report at 2:19 p.m. on Saturday afternoon that Snyder’s truck had been found partially submerged and upright in Wilson Creek.

Deputies, the Skamokawa Fire Department, the District 4 Fire Department and the Cathlamet ambulance responded. The Cowlitz County Technical Rescue team was requested. One volunteer went down the embankment to the vehicle and broke the rear window, finding no one inside. Volunteers made a search of the west bank, traveling approximately a mile without finding anything.

Wahkiakum Search and Rescue continued the search the next morning. Snyder was found a mile below the accident scene, at 9:48 a.m. Search and rescue were able to recover his body with help from divers from Cowlitz County.

Family members were on hand and able to identify Snyder. His body was taken to the Cowlitz County Medical Examiner’s office.

Snyder was 90 years old.