Accident Database

Report ID# 1163

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  • Other
  • Other
  • Inexperience
  • Poor Group / Scene Management
  • Poor Planning

Accident Description

This was foward to me by a friend and so I have no first hand knowledge of incident however we received quite a lot of rain last weekend and also that monday the 26th. Flooding most creeks and some rivers, this thing is typical of local youngsters and has had unfortante results in the past. I have attached the news reort and a copy of the dicussion of tubeing in that area.

TheCarolinaChannel.com

June 28, 2006

WARE SHOALS, S.C. - There was a happy ending Wednesday to a dramatic rescue on the flooded Saluda River. The Greenville County Swift Water Rescue Team saved four teenagers who had gotten stranded on a rock in the middle of the river. The teens said that they were tubing down the river, when they got stuck. It took more than four hours and 30 rescuers to get to the teenagers through strong currents and flood-swept debris.

"At first, it was just fun and then when we got stuck trying to find a way to shore," One of the tubers, Joseph Murray, told WYFF News 4. "We were just scared we weren't going to be able to get to shore" One bystander also needed rescue after he jumped into the river to help. One of the teens was treated for a cut on the leg, but otherwise there were no serious injuries.

The other popular tubing trip near Columbia is on the Saluda River, just below the Lake Murray dam. You launch at Saluda Shoals Park or across the stream at Metts Landing, and you get out at the Gardendale landing. The entrance to Saluda Shoals Park is on Bush River Road. The Gardendale landing is off Bush River Road at the end of Garden Valley Road near I-20. Metts Landing is at the end of Hope Ferry Road on the Lexington side of the dam. The 3-mile trip takes two to three hours when the water is low.

You shouldn't be on the river in a tube when the water is high. Check the colored water-level poles at the landings. It's safe for tubing at the blue levels. The skinnier Saluda provides a more attractive natural backdrop than the Congaree, but has a few safety drawbacks. The water, which flows from the bottom of Lake Murray, is a rear-end-numbing 60 degrees year-round. The skinny river means lots of overhanging or downed trees that can snag tubers and pull them underwater. And the water levels fluctuate rapidly when SCE&G chooses to generate power at the dam. But if you're careful to stay near the center of the river, the Saluda is a fun trip tubing trip during hot summer days.

Adventure Carolina provides life jackets with its tube rentals. It might seem uncool, but a lifejacket could save your life if you tumble from a tube in a fast-flowing river filled with submerged rocks. And if tubes aren't your thing, you can rent canoes or kayaks for trips on the Saluda at Saluda Shoals Park, (803) 731-5208, or for any local river trip from Adventure Carolina, (803) 796-4505. Reach Holleman at (803) 771-8366.

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