An elderly, female church-goer went to the Queen’s Medical Center in serious condition after she drove her car through the Filipino United Church of Christ parking lot in Waipahu Sunday and crashed into an empty drainage canal.

The car landed wheels down, about 15 feet below the church parking lot, said church member Robert Estrella. 

"She was trying to park and all of a sudden she went through a metal gate and into the canal,"Estrella said. "She was lucky she was going at a high speed because she landed upright and didn’t flip over."

The woman, described as being in her 70s, was the lone occupant of the car and got out on her own, said Honolulu Fire Capt. Rick Karasaki.

Paramedics took the woman to Queen’s in serious condition following the 10:30 a.m. crash.