Erika Roman, the very popular radio DJ of Orlando, Florida, was killed in a car crash on Friday as she was trying to avoid a heap of debris lying on Florida’s Turnpike, 20 miles south of Osceola County.. Roman’s her car fell upside down in water.

Erika was only 31. She was the morning host on Power 95.3 FM. The crash happened at 1:30 p.m.

The report by Florida Highway Patrol says that Roman was driving south on the Turnpike. She was in the right-hand lane. The report says that Roman swerved left to avoid a lounge chair and then overcorrecting her Nissan Sentra she drove off the highway onto the shoulder. Roman’s car flipped multiple times skidding more than 50 feet into a canal by the road. The car finally turned upside-down and submerged.

A motorist and a Highway Patrol trooper dived into the canal to rescue Erika. However her life could not be saved.

Erika was rushed to the Lawnwood Medical Center in Fort Pierce where she was declared dead.

The radio station for which she worked praised Roman in the following words on its Web site:

“Erika was a wonderful, passionate, caring person and she will be missed greatly by all of her friends and family.

“If determination had a face, it would look like Erika Roman. If passion had a voice, it would sound like Erika Roman. And if character had a touch, it would feel like Erika Roman.”