A 34-year-old LaBelle woman has died after her car sideswiped a dump truck and ended up submerged in a canal along County Road 78 in Hendry County on Wednesday. The Florida Highway Patrol says the crash unfolded as she rounded a curve east of Hidden Hammock Drive, setting off a chain of events that left her with critical injuries and ultimately took her life.
According to the Gulf Coast News and Weather report on the crash, the woman was driving a 2023 Chevrolet Colorado eastbound when she crossed the double yellow line and entered the path of a 2022 Kenworth dump truck heading westbound on the same stretch of road. The truck was driven by a 48-year-old LaBelle man. Her Colorado sideswiped the dump truck before veering off and entering a canal on the westbound shoulder.
Troopers say the woman suffered critical injuries in the crash and was taken to a hospital, where she later died. The man driving the dump truck was not injured, per the same account. FHP says the crash remains under investigation, and no further details on the exact cause have been released.
A County Road With a Troubled History
Wednesday's crash is not the first fatal wreck reported on County Road 78 in recent years. In an earlier incident, 19-year-old LaBelle man Gabriel De Santiago was killed when his car left the north shoulder near Caloosa Terrace at around 4:49 a.m., struck a tree, and landed in a ditch, according to WINK News. That crash, like Wednesday's, underscores how quickly a routine drive on the rural roadway can turn deadly.
Canals running alongside Hendry County's roads have factored into other fatal wrecks as well. A 20-year-old LaBelle man died after the sedan he was riding in rolled over on Fort Denaud Road, and in a separate case reported the same week, a 55-year-old Tampa man was found dead after driving off the road and overturning in a canal near Clewiston, according to news-press.com. Another crash on State Road 80 near U.S. 27 saw an eastbound SUV hit a lane barrier and utility pole before overturning into a canal, killing a 28-year-old West Palm Beach man who was pronounced dead at the scene, as reported by Lake Okeechobee News.
By the Numbers: Hendry County Roads in 2024
The county's crash statistics paint a sobering picture of just how dangerous local roads can be. Nine people died across eight fatal crashes out of 537 total crashes recorded in Hendry County in 2024, according to Lake Okeechobee News. That same year, 213 crashes resulted in injuries, with 339 people hurt, and the county logged 79 hit-and-run crashes that injured 12 people without causing any deaths.
Statewide, the toll was far larger: Florida recorded 2,715 fatal crashes that took 2,903 lives in 2024, per the same Lake Okeechobee News data. Those figures don't establish whether canal-related crashes or wrecks on County Road 78 specifically are becoming more common, but they do reflect the ongoing risks drivers face on Hendry County's rural roadways.
FHP has not released additional information on what led the woman's Chevrolet Colorado to cross into the dump truck's lane, and the investigation into Wednesday's crash continues.
