By Lasia Kretzel

‘I asked her to tell my family I love them:’ Woman survives car sinking in South Sask. River

Jan 19, 2015 | 5:58 AM

Joanne Brochu says she didn’t expect to survive after her car nose dived into the South Saskatchewan River at the Clarkboro ferry crossing on Friday.

As her car began sinking into the icy water, she said she could communicate with a woman on the shore. 

“I really didn’t think I was going to get out of there and I asked her to tell my family I love them,” she said.

The 49-year-old said she was on her way home from Aberdeen to Colonsay around 8 p.m. She said she uses grid roads whenever she can because she doesn’t like the high speeds of the highway. 

She said she hadn’t crossed the ice bridge in nearly a year and began checking for tracks and barricades. When all appeared safe, she drove onto the ice. 

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“I got about three quarters of the way and all of the sudden I heard water,” Brochu said.

Her car broke through the ice and was turned sideways by the current.

“My first thought was, I’m headed downstream and no one is going to find me.”

With water coming up to the window, Brochu realized her cell phone wasn’t getting any reception. Remembering past swimming lessons, she climbed onto the roof of her car and held her cell phone up in the air. 

“The third time I called 911 and I heard a voice on the other end,” she said, adding she just managed to give them her location before the signal cut out again. 

With a woman on shore as her only comfort, Brochu waited until the Warman Fire Rescue crews arrived. 

With her car nearing complete submersion, rescue crews told her to jump to the nearest ice patch. Though waist deep in water, the ice held her weight and she managed to pull herself out of the frigid river. 

Fire crews slowly worked their way out to her, pulled her to a boat and brought her to shore. 

The mother of four and grandmother was relieved to be on solid ground.

“I believe in miracles and I totally believe in guardian angels and everybody was there to help me out along with my heroes and that’s the Warman fire department,” Brochu said. 

Warman fire chief Gord Thompson said it’s been a couple years since a car went through the ice.

He said more water released from the Gardiner dam and the recent warmer weather may have softened the ice.

The popular route between Warman and Aberdeen cuts half a hour off the trip. In the summer a ferry takes cars across the river, but in the winter, drivers are left to cross the ice at their own discretion.

Thompson says no one checks the ice thickness so drivers need to be cautious or just take the long way around. 

Brochu said she hopes her experience is a lesson to those who think about crossing the river and to community leaders. 

“Make sure there’s barricades up there when it’s not safe or just gate it off completely forever,” she said.

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