蜜柚直播

Now county officials are trying to decide what to do 鈥� if anything 鈥� about the wrecked vehicle, which is still out there in the wash, buried to its wheel wells almost a quarter-mile from where it was swept off of Overton Road.

The top of the truck is visible from the east side of the North La Cholla Boulevard bridge, if you know just where to look.

Officials from the Pima County Regional Flood District were not aware of it until the Star asked about it.

鈥淔rankly, we were all kind of surprised to hear it was still there,鈥� said Brian Jones, division manager for the district. 鈥淲e assumed the insurance company would have recovered the vehicle as part of any claim.鈥�

According to Jones, the wreckage doesn鈥檛 pose a significant danger to the public.

鈥淔rom a pure flood perspective, the district isn鈥檛 particularly concerned. The vehicle is not going to impact flows,鈥� he said.

Officials are not too worried about oil or fuel leaking from the wreckage, either. Jones said most of the truck鈥檚 fluids were probably lost when it tumbled violently down the wash during the flood.

鈥淎s an ongoing environmental hazard, there鈥檚 probably not a lot there,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he contaminants that are in normal floodwaters far exceed what鈥檚 in a single vehicle.鈥�

Even so, the county鈥檚 risk management department told Jones that the wreckage amounts to 鈥渁n attractive nuisance鈥� and should be cleared from county land.

Jones said the district is now 鈥渨eighing its options,鈥� including whether to ask the truck鈥檚 owner or insurance carrier to remove the vehicle or hire a contractor to do the work and then seek reimbursement from the owner.

He likened the abandoned truck to an illegal dump site, albeit an unintentional one.

鈥淏asically, it鈥檚 their property on our property,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 drive through flooded washes, this doesn鈥檛 happen.鈥�

Jones added that the county should be able to figure out who the truck belongs to using the VIN printed on the vehicle and other information.

A records request filed by the Star late last week seeking the names of the people rescued from the truck is still being processed by the Golder Ranch Fire District and the Northwest Fire District, the two agencies that responded to the call.

Though vehicles seem to end up stranded in floodwaters or washed off roads every year in 蜜柚直播, it鈥檚 rare for one to be abandoned and nearly forgotten like this. Jones said it happens so rarely that the county doesn鈥檛 really have any procedures in place for handling it.

鈥淚t鈥檚 certainly sparked some interesting conversations around here,鈥� he said.

Overton is one of only a handful of significant roads in the area that still cross through a wash large enough to carry a vehicle so far downstream. Bridges have been built at almost every other major crossing, he said.

As a result, Jones said, he doesn鈥檛 know of very many vehicles left abandoned in 蜜柚直播鈥檚 main wash channels, though there could be some out there from decades ago, including some that are completely buried in sand.

鈥淗istorically, people used to use old vehicles as bank protection along their property,鈥� he said.

You can still find evidence of the practice along the Rillito, where it curls under the railroad tracks and Interstate 10 just south of Orange Grove Road. Along the east side of the tracks, there is a row of 14 flatbed rail cars buried in the ground on their sides years ago in an effort to shield the railway from the river.

Since then, Jones said, the county has reinforced the river bank and built a stretch of the Chuck Huckelberry Loop through that area, rendering the rail-car flood barrier obsolete.

Jones said the district plans to keep an eye on the wreck in the Ca帽ada del Oro to make sure it doesn鈥檛 move farther downstream, closer to the La Cholla bridge.

He has also asked the district鈥檚 infrastructure management team to get a cost estimate for removing the truck from the wash.

It鈥檚 too soon to say when the actual work might be done, but if the county ends up doing it, it will either happen before this year鈥檚 monsoon season or after it, Jones said.

As the rescue in August demonstrated, the wash is a dangerous place to be during summer thunderstorms.