I was not a part of the group are on scene for rescue. Just reporting off of news articles and Facebook post made by the victim. Posting to deter other inexperienced boaters from putting themselves in the same situation.
After several days of rain everything in the south east was running. Local high water favorites had plenty of water. Three inexperienced boaters met for an early morning run of the upper hooch. Typically a class 2 section of river. All three paddlers were familiar with the run at regular flows. This particular day the river was topped at 8.41' on the gauge. At this level it's big water class 4 without some of the hazards typical of class 4 - 5 of the south.
Half way through the run in the area of Buck Shoals state park all three paddlers swam out of a river wide hole. Losing most of their gear including a Jackson Zen, 2 Werner paddles and a red full face helmet. The group was temporarily seperated in the swim. One victim managed to call 911 and fire departments from mutiple counties responded to assist with the rescue. While normally a lazy section of river never take high water for granted. Below is a copy of the news agency report.
(White County Fire Services were dispatched to a river rescue at approximately 9:50 AM Friday in the area of Buck Shoals on the Chattahoochee River.
White County Public Safety Director David Murphy said White County 9-1-1 received a call from one of the victims and dispatchers had the location by pinging the phone through the Enhanced 911 System to pinpoint his location.
According to White County Fire Chief Seth Weaver, when units arrived on scene they discovered the caller was actually on the Habersham side of the river hanging on to a tree. Weaver said that the victim advised that there was another person down the river that was on the White County side.
Habersham Fire was called to assist the victim on their side of the river while White County firefighters and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources walked the riverbank about 1 mile and found the second subject on the bank.
According to Weaver a party of three was actually going down the river together, which was unsafe due to high water levels from the previous night’s rainfall.
No injuries to the victims or rescuers were reported and units were on scene for 3.5 hours.)
