TIM CHAPMAN / MIAMI HERALD STAFF
Rossanna Bernal Baldan, center, was wet and upset but otherwise unharmed after she drove her 1999 Mitsubishi into a canal at the end of Southwest 102 Avenue and 143 Street in Miami-Dade County. Here, the 23-year-old explains the accident to a Miami-Dade Police officer after her car was pulled from the canal on Thursday, July 12, 2012.
A woman is safe after her car careened through a barricade and plunged into a Miami-Dade canal.
The woman, 23-year-old Rossanna Bernal Baldan, crashed her 1999 Mitsubishi through some temporary barricades around 9:30 a.m. and fell into a canal at Southwest 102nd Avenue and 143rd Street.
The gold car quickly sank in the deep canal. Bernal Baldan managed to unbuckle her seatbelt and swam away from the car as it dipped below the water’s surface.
Bernal Baldan scrambled up the bank, and a woman helped her climb back to the roadway. The woman, identified as Jackie Barnett, lives in the Kendall neighborhood near the site of the accident.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue workers arrived at the scene with divers in tow to find Bernal Baldan stressed and soaking wet, but otherwise alright. She called a friend to drive her home while divers hooked up her car to be towed out of the canal.
The location has been the site of many cars crashing through the guardrail, according to neighbor Zachary Spiewak.
He said since he moved to the area about 14 years ago, there have been at least 10 incidences where cars have crashed into the guardrail.
On June 30, he said, a car smashed through the barricade, knocking it down. The county then set up temporary barricades, which Bernal Baldan smashed through.
“They came and put temporary barricades, but this canal is not properly marked on the road,” Spiewak said. “There’s no marker big enough for anyone to see, and cars will keep crashing into the canal.”
