Irrigation canals have been in the news much lately, including Grant County.

   Grant County Deputies Continue Search for Missing Elderly Man

Searchers are combing irrigation canals a few miles east of Soap Lake, after a body was spotted in the water of a canal in the 23000 block of Pinto Ridge Road NE.

The search began Saturday afternoon, after an irrigation district worker called 9-1-1 to report he came across  a pickup sitting on a canal road next to the flowing water, and the engine was running.  The truck was found around 1 PM.

   A Deputy and the Worker Tried Retrieving The Body

As the responding Deputy pulled up to the area, the worker flagged him and down and said he’d spotted a body floating in the canal downstream from where the truck was located.  Despite repeated efforts the Officer and worker were not able to get the body out of the water.

Then it drifted into a siphon that runs underneath State Route 28, and has not been since since.  Officials did not say where the siphon leads to.

  The Truck is Registered to the Missing Man

The red 2013 GMC Sierra found running next to the canal is registered to 70-year-old Richard D. Johnson. He was last seen around 11:30 AM Saturday when surveillance cameras captured him driving away from his rural residence near Moses Lake.

Officials say his family is cooperating with the investigation, no word if he had any medical conditions or other issues affecting his health. The GCSO says foul play is not suspected, the search continues.