Semi Driver Dead After Truck Careens Into Florida Canal

The driver of a semi-truck was found dead after their vehicle careened off I-75 and plummeted into a canal as Hurricane Debby was impacting Hillsborough County, Florida, early on Monday, August 5, officials said.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) said they were called out around 3 am after the truck went over a guardrail and landed in 14-feet-deep waters in the Tampa Bypass Canal.

“While we’re on the way here, we’re getting hurricane warnings, tornado warnings, everything like that,” said Sheriff’s Diver Deputy Pollack while reporting from the scene.

After a challenging operation in stormy conditions, divers lifted the vehicle from the water and found the deceased driver inside the cab, HCSO said.

“We send our condolences to the driver’s family,” said Sheriff Chad Chronister. “Even the harshest conditions didn’t stop our deputies working swiftly in this tragic situation.”

Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) was investigating the incident, according to Hillsborough County Fire Rescue. Credit: Hillsborough County Sheriff via Storyful

Video transcript

Yeah, we got called out three o'clock in the morning.

A semi truck drove over the guard rail right here into the bypass canal.

Oh, it's nearly 14 ft deep.

Uh, definitely one of our harder lifts and here little kids, small cars and tits parks and things like that.

So this was definitely a more difficult lift.

Freaking this car di obviously you can tell it's pouring rain out every 10 minutes coming through heavy winds, heavy rain making it really difficult for our boats in the water to make this an effective lift.