SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. — One week after ABC10 published our special investigation into an underwater junkyard in the San Joaquin River, three cars were removed from the Sacramento River.
The cars were pulled from the water Wednesday in a 100 yard stretch between Twin Cities and River roads near Walnut Grove in Sacramento County. A total of 12 cars were found in the river and marked by divers.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office and San Joaquin Sheriff’s Office Boat Patrol Unit worked together to clear the waterway of the cars.
Some of the cars dumped in the river were by accident. The first car officials pulled from the water was a white SUV that crashed July 13 around 5 a.m.
According to California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Leavitt, the driver is cooperating.
“A gentleman called 911 and said he drove off the road and into the Sacramento River but was able to swim out,” said Leavitt. “He had just driven off. He was not intoxicated or under the impairment of drugs or alcohol.”
This is an ongoing issue as Twin Cities Road is pitch dark when the sun is down. The speed limit is 55 mph with many straightaways, but the uneven road also has many twists and turns that are not visible to drivers unfamiliar with it.
Officials say the longer the car sits in water, the heavier it can get. This can pose problems to not only recovering the car from the water, but also how much the water damages the car.
The damage to the car could lead to cracked or ruptured gas tanks which could pollute the water and other things.
“They can cause serious consequences for fish and other critters if the concentrations are high enough they can actually kill them,” said UC Davis Toxocologist Ronald Tjeerdema.
All three cars removed from the water were connected to car accidents, according to officials. It's unclear what will come of the remaining nine cars in the river.
