cumberland river 2 sad sights

[kygorski]

Drove over the river at burkesville, I have3 nevrt seen the water that color before during a dry period.It was brown,and low. Next on the way home drove over the dam to kendal, one flood gate wide open, and then I noticed a boat, bottom side up caught in the eddy across the river from me.Several minutes saw another bhoat heading into that very bad area, I think they were on a rescue mission, dont know if they were3 succesful or not, but 15 minutes later the russel county EMS truck showed up and went down the ramp, several minutes after that, they shut the flood gate down to lower the river, not a good sign.

[stripernut]

oh no, that doesnt sound good at all. i will ask a friend thats on the Russ. Co. EMS if he knows what the outcome was.....man that place is DANGEROUS.

[kygorski]

heck yes its dangerous,even wearing a good life jacket you will get caught in that eddy, and theres no getting out.Dont know the size of the boat, because most of it was under water with just the bow and 3 ft of the hull above water.When I get that close I keep my engine running, and as soon as I notice the back flow I get out of there.Those drain gates work different than generating.

[RICHYD4U]

That bad news really strikes home for me....we were stuck in that same eddy last November and we could not get out! Thank goodness for RockFish.....he heard our distress calls and jetted up stream and pulled us out. He's the man.

Our prayers go out to those fisherman....hope they are ok.

-Rich

[coombro]

was on the river today with boone and was wondering what was going on with the water put in at helms and noticed dramatic drop. Wondering what was going on. Checking water level for the day never seen them do that before. Hope they made it out okay, doesn't sound good.

[FlyLie]

Drove over the river at burkesville, I have3 nevrt seen the water that color before during a dry period.It was brown,and low. Next on the way home drove over the dam to kendal, one flood gate wide open, and then I noticed a boat, bottom side up caught in the eddy across the river from me.Several minutes saw another bhoat heading into that very bad area, I think they were on a rescue mission, dont know if they were3 succesful or not, but 15 minutes later the russel county EMS truck showed up and went down the ramp, several minutes after that, they shut the flood gate down to lower the river, not a good sign.

Posted by Rainbow on LC.com
"Two of my staff and I had just arrived at the Snack Bar to eat lunch when we were alerted by some bystanders that a boat had just turned over. Once we confirmed this by actually seeing them in the water, I contacted the powerhouse operator on duty and advised they should probably shut everything down. Three fisherman in a boat several hundred yards down stream had been made aware of the situation and came to their rescue. After several minutes of battling the swift/swirling water they were able to get both individuals in the boat. From our observation it was obvious one or both parties would need medical attention, so I phoned the EMS to get a truck in route. We then went to the boat ramp to assist. The female was not doing well, due to exhaustion, hypothermia, and drinking way to much water. Both parties were transported to the hospital. They are very lucky someone saw it happen and that the fisherman were in the area, otherwise the outcome would not have been so good in a few short minutes. "

[RICHYD4U]

Glad to hear that everyone turned out ok.....scary stuff. Having experienced that feeling of helplessness as that eddy pulls you in towards all that water coming out, and having your boat nearly capsized...just to have it happen all over again as soon as it spits you out.....it is really a heart-pounding moment. I often wondered if we would have made it had we capsized....glad to hear these people did.

-Rich

[stripernut]

i hope they are doing ok. awesome job by the people who helped

[raporter]

i hope they are doing ok. awesome job by the people who helped

+1

[kygorski]

I watched those guys on the rescue, they put themselves in a lot of danger, who ever you are you deserve a great round of applause.I was tempted to go down to the ramp, but since the situation was being handled by the EMT crew,any more people wasn't going to help. again who ever you guys are a tip of the hat to you.

[Mean Morone]

I hope they are ok. That is a scary thing to go through. I had an experience on the Ohio River that I will never forget. Motor died and the current was pulling us hard toward the dam. We used the trolling motor to go toward the dam then sling shot out. It worked but we were getting in the heavy white water. I thought for sure that was it.

I was talking to a guy recently that told of a friend of his that hooked a big striper that ran toward the dam. He followed it and was fighting it when he noticed his motor quit. The current sucked him to the dam and capsized his boat. He hung on to the side of the dam for as long as he could then just decided to let go. The current pulled him straight to the bottom and rolled him on the rocks. Just when he was about out of breath he came to the surface. Not a stitch of clothes were left on him and his life jacket was on his arm. The coast guard was called but they took their time because they said noone survives that.