ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The night of June 29 was a busy one for Albuquerque police, they responded to well over a thousand flood-related calls in a few hours. 

One of them came from a city bus driver stuck under a downtown bridge with flood water up to the steering wheel.

With no response from the flooded bus, video shows one officer heading into the chest deep water. 

“Someone’s gotta do something, bro.”

Seconds later, the driver emerges from the bus’ back door and works his way to safety. The driver went down the route after three passengers climbed out of the roof hatch to safety. 

Madeline Skrak from the city Transit Department says the driver was already on a detour from flooding on Central.

The bus at First and Tijeras was one of two buses caught in the flooding that June night. The other one passed inspection and is back on the road, while this one is under investigation. 

“We don’t yet know the extent of that damage, but we are really hoping that the ART will be salvageable,” said Skrak. “They’re virtually going to have to take it apart because water damage is tricky, and we’re gonna have to figure out exactly what’s going on with it to get it back on the road.”

After the internal inspection, it will go to risk management and the manufacturers. Skrak says it could be a monthslong process and a pricey potential replacement. 

“The 60-foot clean diesel ART buses, they run about $900,000,” Skrak said. 

She says the driver is also under assessment and investigation, just like the bus.

“We’ve been low on MCOs, which stands for motor coach operators, and they are working very hard right now, and they’re operating these massive vehicles that are very complicated. They’re trained for it, but yeah, it’s a huge job,” said Skrak. 

Skrak says the department is also using it as an opportunity to revisit protocols.

“I grew up in New Mexico and grew up with monsoon seasons. But I’ve never seen anything like that before. And I think it really was a big awareness moment for us to prepare for more flooding like this, which could definitely happen,” said Skrak.