Truck rescued from the Willamette River

07.01.09 - A truck that was swept into the Willamette River this weekend was finally pulled from the river. It took four days to complete. It was swept into the river Saturday when the driver got to close to the edge. The truck was resting on top of one of EWEB’S water pipes. Lane County’s Sherriff Search and Rescue crews and Eugene Fire were on hand combing the river. EWEB representatives monitored the rescue by land in case the water vane was damaged. The rescue took a lot of preparation and planning before it was a success. The water levels were lowered by the army corp. of engineers by almost 20 percent from this weekend to make it easier for the divers. There was a delay while the divers went back down in the water to take more photographs before moving the truck. It was such a big issue because the water line that the truck was stuck on supplies roughly 35 percent of the residents in the Santa Clara area. If the water lines had been damaged there would have been a restricted water use for the homes in that area. The Lane County Sherriff’s office said there was no damage done to the water line.