At least 7, including 2 children, have died or gone missing in the grasp of powerful river currents as Sacramento swift-water rescue crews practiced their skills this week on the American River.
SACRAMENTO — California rivers fed by this winter’s massive Sierra Nevada snowpack have been turned into deadly torrents, drawing warnings from public safety officials ahead of the Memorial Day weekend’s traditional start of outdoor summer recreation.
Swift water rescue teams conduct an exercise on the American River in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, May 23, 2023. California rivers fed by winter’s massive Sierra Nevada snowpack have been turned into deadly torrents, drawing warnings from public safety officials ahead of the Memorial Day weekend and the traditional start of outdoor summer recreation.
With Californians expected to flock to the outdoors, the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services on Thursday issued a broad caution about conditions they might encounter, including fast-moving water, following months of severe weather. “It can really give a shock to the body,” said Daniel Bowers, Sacramento city’s director of emergency management. Experts say muscle control can be lost in minutes.
Placer County’s messaging about the risk is blunt. “If the public doesn’t listen to our warnings this year, people are going to die, more people than we’ve seen over the last few years,” sheriff’s Sgt. Kevin Griffiths says in a public service announcement video.
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