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ALGONA -- The ordeal of a man who got stranded in a snow drift along a rural Kossuth County road Tuesday morning was made worse when his dog accidentally locked him out of his vehicle.
The man and his dog were rescued after a snow plow led deputies and family members to his vehicle.
The Kossuth County Sheriff's Office reported that Michael Riggert, 43, of Algona, was treated at Kossuth Regional Health Center for hypothermia and low glucose and was released.
Deputies reported that Riggert and his dog left home shortly after midnight Tuesday.
Their plight was discovered at 9:18 a.m., when someone called 911 to report that a man was passed out in a vehicle which was stuck in a large snow drift on 230th Street, a half-mile west of Kossuth County Road P30.
Deputies responding to the call found 230th Street blocked by snow drifts. The county Road Department was called and one of its snow plows rammed through the drifts, enabling rescuers to reach Riggert.
According to the Sheriff's Office, when Riggert's vehicle got stuck in the snow, he got out to start shoveling. While he was doing that, the dog bumped the door lock, locking him out. He broke a window to get back inside the vehicle.
The Kossuth County Emergency Medical Service and Iowa State Patrol assisted deputies and the Road Department.