She held onto dear life as help arrived just before she was about to give up. A train conductor luckily saw her and called for help.
The canal current is strong and fast, making the 18-hour fight for her and her 55-pound dog's life nearly impossible while holding onto a tree.
*****
Back before they made it illegal because so many people drowned in them, I spent quite a bit of time swimming in those irrigation canals and unless there's an egress point nearby, they're surprising hard to climb out of even when you're fresh. The concrete sides are steep and covered in algae, plus there's usually a pretty stiff current. We used to take a length of knotted rope and tie it to the truck to use to haul ourselves out.
