Just a few days ago this river, just a couple of blocks from home, unexpectedly turned deadly.
A malfunction on the drum gate on the dam just upriver from here led to an unplanned release at the spill gate and the river level came up rapildy, sweeping six fishermen into the waters.
Two didn’t make it out.
Kirk and I were both working from home that day, and we both noticed the unusual amount of air traffic. At least three different helicopters and a plane circling low. Helicopters on the river aren’t unusual, sadly, and we both assumed that “something” was happening on the river.
“Something” usually means someone lost, someone fallen in, someone clinging to the edge of a bank, a kayaker flipped…..
But the video of the unplanned water spill into that narrow canyon was telling. The water came up faster than everyone could scramble up the rocks.
Rivers always pose a danger and deserve respect, but no one could have foreseen something like that on an otherwise nice day. I am thankful that the accident happened on a weekday and not the weekend before, which was sunny and would have seen ten times the number of fishermen and hikers and people just relaxing on the rocks down close to the water at the accessible spots.
It’s still a terrible tragedy.
7 comments
Awful turn of events. In my ten years as Ops Manager under Eldon Stone the Cap River swallowed up unwary recreationalists annually. The canyon is particularly deadly beautiful.