Widow encourages safety after husband's tragic death on flooded road in Victorville

VICTORVILLE, Calif. (KABC) -- Joel Williams, the widow of a man who died Friday when his car was swept away by floodwaters in Victorville, now has a message for other drivers in hopes that it will keep them and their loved ones safe.

"I just don't want this to happen to anyone else's family, because this is devastating," Williams said, standing near a makeshift memorial Monday at Doris Davies Park, where 41-year-old Michael Williams died. "It's hard because it happened so unexpectedly."

Joel Williams said her husband was on his way to his grandmother's house when he tried to drive across the swift-moving water on Pebble Beach Drive. After the man's vehicle was carried away by the deluge, his body was found inside.

"He was a good dad," his wife recalled. "He loved his kids."

Michael Williams worked at a warehouse in Fontana. He and his family had not lived in Victorville for very long at the time of the incident.

"He was new to the area," Joel Williams said. "He had no idea this area would flood like this."

She hopes motorists take note of what happened to her husband and use caution around swift-moving water, so that something similar doesn't happen to them.

"I want awareness brought, because I don't want this to happen ever again," she said. "How do you explain to your kids that they don't have their dad anymore?"

A GoFundMe page has been created to help pay for Michael William's funeral.