In December 2005-January 2006, Oregon experienced more than 40 days of continuous rain, leaving many of the rivers in the area at flood, or near flood stage. This weather posed swiftwater rescue challenges to professional rescuers and whitewater rafters and kayakers who choose to brave the turbulent waters.
The flooding river going into homes, yards and roads...
The Siuslaus River in Oregon’s Costal Range is suceptible to flooding with such extreme weather events. With the river at its highest levels, near 25 feet on the gauge, the upper Lake Creek of the Siuslaus is a turbulent flow of massive waves, enormous holes and water traveling at 15-20 miles per hour. Whitewater kayakers embrace the challenge this poses, although the river normally is paddled between 12-16 feet on the gauge.
A flooded river covers banks, trees and removes eddys from the river.
With the river at nearly 25 feet, a group of five kayakers chose to put on the river. All were experienced whitewater boaters, although three had never seen the run before. The run is along a highway, so the kayakers were able to scout some of the run along the drive up. All boaters had recognized the extreme challenges the flooded river posed, but felt comfortable putting on at the high flow.
Within 5 minutes, the group had traveled more than a mile down the river. They had done well but were traveling very fast and fighting the strong currents. Going into the largest of the rapids, one of the kayakers flipped over and was pulled into a large boiling eddy line. The kayaker flailed and missed three rolls before swimming out of his boat. Because of the boil line, the paddler was slowed down and the other four paddlers were swept downstream of the flailing boater.
Question: What are some of the unique challenges now faced by the group? How are these challenges different with a flooded river? What should the group focus on first?
With one kayaker swimming and the other four fighting hard to paddle against the 20 mile per hour current, the kayakers fought hard to reach their struggling team mate. He was able to swim toward the shore, but could not reach it because there were no eddies. He was swept downstream into a tree about 10 feet from shore. Normally, this tree would be on dry land. The swimmer clung to the tree as the water rushed by him. Two paddlers were able to make it to shore and get out on the bank. The next big rapid loomed just downstream.
The flooded river running through the town of Mapleton, OR, filling pastures, houses and roads.
Question: What should the two boaters on shore do next? What tools for swiftwater rescue do they need?
The two boaters on shore ran up the bank to their struggling friend. The distance from the shore to their friend was a short 10 feet, but with the river rushing past, it seemed like it was miles. Unable to paddle out to their friend or make any type of hands on contact, the rescuers decided to use a throwbag to reach the patient. One of the rescuers threw a coil of rope to the victim while the other stood 20 feet downstream and held a throwbag for downstream backup.
The third coil toss reached the victim and he was able to grab the rope and hold on while the rescuer used a tree to help support the load of the swimmer in the fast water. The swimmer pendulumed to shore and was able to hold on long enough to get swung onto the land. The other friend ran up and assisted the exhausted swimmer to shore.
Flooding rivers create huge waves and swiftwater challenges
The kayaker’s boat was recovered an hour later 18 miles downstream. The rescuers got the car and chased it down the highway because there was no way to catch up with it on the river. It was moving too fast. It almost made it to the Pacific Ocean before the rescuers were able to reach it?
Question: What should the paddler’s take away from this experience? Could it have been avoided? At what point could the incident have been prevented?
There is no doubt that the swimmer could have easily flush drown in the turbulent waters. The fast waters combine with the scale of the river and lack of eddies made it a dangerous place to make a mistake. Always assess your personal ability and the ability of your team before putting on the river. Get good swiftwater training before accidents happen, and have a great time out on the river!
