Abandoned car found submerged in canal near Eighth Street and Avenue D

A car fully submerged in a canal near Eighth Street and Avenue D sent Rural Metro crews into a rescue-style response Sunday morning, with responders initially unable to tell whether anyone was inside. The call came in around 8:15 a.m., and first responders arrived to a vehicle underwater with an unknown number of possible occupants or injuries.

That uncertainty made the scene serious from the start. Before the car was pulled from the canal, crews had to treat it as a possible water rescue, a crash investigation or an abandonment case. Once the vehicle was removed, Rural Metro determined it had been abandoned. The cause of the crash and the driver’s whereabouts remained unknown.

Even without a confirmed injury, a submerged car can create immediate hazards for nearby roads and recovery crews. Canal incidents can slow traffic, pull emergency resources toward the water and force a careful search for hidden damage or signs that someone may have fled the scene. In Yuma, where canals run close to busy corridors, those calls quickly become more than a property problem.

Rural Metro Fire Department has served Yuma County since 1971 and operates from six fire stations across the county. Motor vehicle accident response is part of its standard service, which explains why crews move quickly even before they know whether a canal call involves a rescue, a crash or an abandoned vehicle.

This was not the only canal-related incident in Yuma this year. On February 13, a 2013 Mazda 3 was pulled from a canal near North 10th Avenue and West Colorado Street. Five days later, on February 18, a 32-year-old Somerton man drowned after a Mercury Grand Marquis went into a canal near County 8th Street and Avenue 44 E.

The danger is not new. On March 24, 2024, the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office reported a vehicle submerged in the Gila Gravity Canal near Avenue 9 1/4 E, where one juvenile passenger died and another occupant escaped uninjured.

The City of Yuma said the Greater Yuma Water Safety Alliance was formed in fall 2023 to reduce drownings and promote water safety, a sign that canal and water-adjacent emergencies remain a recurring issue in the region. Accident reports can later be obtained through the Yuma Police Department Records Bureau, which may help fill in more details about the Eighth Street and Avenue D case.