Woman injured when car hits house

A woman was injured when a car she was driving crashed into a Highland Park house early today, police said.

The woman, whose name was not released, was admitted to Northern Montana Hospital with serious injuries, Havre Assistant Police Chief Mike Barthel said today. Her condition was not available late this morning.

David and Cyndi Leeds were roused from bed by the sound of a car crashing into their house just before 4:30 a.m.

"It's the type of alarm you don't like waking up to," David Leeds said. "It was the loudest crash I've ever heard."

The vehicle was traveling south on Wilson Avenue, went through the T-intersection at 13th Street West and crashed into the north side of the couple's home, which sits on the south side of 13th Street, Barthel said.

"Speed was definitely a factor," Barthel said. He was on scene this morning to interview the Leedses and take photos of the damage to their home.

The vehicle crashed through two bedrooms, one of which belongs to the couple's daughter. Both rooms were unoccupied.

"We're just lucky she's away at school," David Leeds said.

The couple jumped out of bed and raced to the vehicle, he said. The couple heard a woman moaning, and they immediately called the police. An ambulance crew was also dispatched to the scene, where paramedics extracted the woman driver from the car.

A construction crew was busy at work today attempting to repair the house. The crew used plastic sheets to block the exposed part of the house from the rain while the Leedses looked on.

There is no initial estimate for the cost of repairs, and Leeds said he is unsure how long the repairs will take.

"If it hadn't been for the retaining wall (between the two rooms), the car would have ended up in the basement," he said.

Working on the house today was Dan Korb, who said this is the second time the house had been struck by a car.

"When I was in high school, one of my classmates hit this house," he said. "Though they didn't do quite this much damage."