Car plows into Rotonda West home leaving gaping hole

A car plowed into a home in Rotonda West Sunday, leaving a massive hole behind.

The incident happened on Rotonda Circle near Caddy Road. One person was home at the time of the collision.

“We heard this low rumbling noise and we weren’t quite sure what it was. It just got louder and louder,” said Lisa Willhite.

Willhite and her husband Brad were having their morning coffee on their lanai when they were forced to spring into action to help the driver and the man living inside the home.

“I grabbed the phone to call 911 and Brad, he just took off running out the door barefoot,” Willhite said.

He ran to his neighbor’s house only to see the back of a silver Volvo sticking out of the front of the home.

“I jumped on the back of the car and wormed my way through to get into the house, and at that point, the young man was trying to get out of the car and I just helped him to the ground,” Brad said.

He adds that he shielded the driver as water and debris poured from the ceiling until firefighters and Charlotte County deputies arrived on the scene.

Willhite says other neighbors also came out to help the man who was living in the home, who was trapped inside his bedroom.

“The neighbor next to him ran around the back and helped get him out the window and thankfully he was unharmed,” Willhite said.

The couple says they’re still shaken up but are glad they were there to help.

The driver escaped with a cut on the head and a possible injury to his leg. The man inside the home was not injured.

It is unclear what caused the crash.