SWIFT WATER RESCUE: 💦 A father and son were rescued after they fell off their raft and became stranded on a sandbar in the middle of the Virgin River. DETAILS: 📹: Washington County Sheriff Search & Rescue
The weekend outing ended up launching a swiftwater rescue in the southern Utah river, which more often than not runs shallower and with less force than it was on May 21. However, when those calm waters can become destructive when fed enough water upstream, though flooding and damage has typically only occurred because of storms.The family members became stuck on a sandbar in the center of the river after falling out of their raft and were unable to traverse the swiftwater.
Video and photos taken by the responding rescue teams show water that appears shallow and easily manageable - a far cry from the images of whitewater rapid conditions typically thought of as "swiftwater."on its social media, showed river conditions that were more dangerous than they appeared.
"Two team members swam to the sandbar and throw bags were used to pendulum both individuals safely back to the side of the river with the rescuers," according to the SAR statement." The video showed rescuers bringing back the boy first, and the strength of the water was on full display as the child and the crewmember are quickly swept to the end of the line before being tugged ashore.
Thanks to the record-shattering snowpack levels over the 2022-23 winter, the southern Utah river was running faster than and deeper than most residents are typically used to. While the river is much calmer most years, whenever it's pumped with rainwater or, for the first time in 40 years, a major snowpack melt, it floods, often destroying roads, paved trails, and even whole neighborhoods built near its constantly-changing banks.
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