COPPER, Colo. — Drivers were hit by an avalanche that covered 100 feet of road on Colorado State Highway 91 in nearly 20 feet of snow, rocks and snapped trees on Thursday.

Minutes after the road was reopened from a safety closure, everything went black for commuter Eric Borre who was driving his 2006 Subaru Outback to work as a snowcat driver.

“All I saw was a tidal wave, sun gets shaded out,” Boree said. “And I’m getting pushed and I stopped on my side, almost upside down.”

An avalanche has not reached the highway in decades.

“And I was thinking, ‘That was the most amazing thing that’s ever happened to me.'”

A day after the avalanche, Borre is laughing about the experience because he and the other drivers weren’t hurt.

A phone call made from Borre’s car to 911 describing what’s going on in his head tells a different story.

“I’m buried alive. (It’s) pitch black. How long is it going to take for someone to get to me?” he said.

As he listened to the snow hit the top of his car, Borre was worried about how long it might take to find him.

It took first responders about 10 minutes to find Borre and dig him out of his car.

Borre considers himself to be a “blessed man … grace of God … that’s the only thing that’s saved me,” he said.

“I was on the phone with 911, buried, then state troopers started digging off the door,” Borre said. “I seen the light coming through the window and I thought, ‘OK, it’ll be alright.'”

Borre’s car is in a tow lot in Frisco and needs a new windshield, among many other repairs.