River looks like Class II-III; large river, strong current
William Holman says: Yes it's my closest river, the Buckhorn Rapids section becomes class III at around 6 or 7 ft, mostly due to strainers on almost ever big rock section and along the creek lines on river right. Real fun series with all kinds of drops and waves to play on but It's never run by most whitewater paddlers because the series of rocks are 1/2 mile downstream from public put in but no public access after for 16 miles. Sadly no easy way to get back up. It's a section I've always recommended that no novice paddler goes over 3ft as it tends to flip recreational kayaks alot and most paddling are overweight camping paddlers.
Missing boater search continues along Cape Fear River;
Strong current could have contributed to disappearance. Rescuers searched from the air, on land and in the water Thursday afternoon after a group of people was reported missing in the Cape Fear River south of Moncure.
Posted December 29th, 2023
By Willie Daniely, WRAL reporter and Shelle Jackson, WRAL reporter
Four people were rescued from the Cape Fear River on Thursday in Lee County.
Rescue crews were searching the river at Lett's Landing on the 3200 block of Buckhorn Road just south of Moncure for five people who went to the river. Rescuers searched from the air, on land and in the water Thursday afternoon after the teens were reported missing.
Authorities said the location of one of the people is unknown, but SWIFT water rescue teams were able to rescue four of them. The four people who were rescued are expected to be okay. The search for the fifth person continued on Friday. A dozen different departments had representatives help.
Lee County emergency management director Matthew Britt said the choppy flow of the water on Thursday made it a tough day for boaters."The water was rough yesterday," Britt said. "They made it approximately a half-mile from launch and got in a rough current." Crews are also searching through the neighboring wooded areas.
Cecil Cameron has lived in the area all of his life. Cameron thinks he saw the group of boaters on their way to the river on Thursday. "I said are you going behind the dam on the Buckhorn side? He said 'no, we're going to letts' landing' so that makes me think it has to be the same boys," Cameron said.
Cameron grew up on the water and knows the Cape Fear River well. He felt recent rainfall could have been a factor. "With the three-and-a-half inches of rain we've had in two days, there's a tremendous amount of water flowing into that river," Cameron said. "The flow would be real strong and where they went in would be very strong."
Crews are focusing on an area approximately 4.5 miles away from Buckhorn Dam. Josh Billings, fire chief of the Cape Fear Fire Department, said the water level is up 5-to-7 feet from normal. "You can't do search operation walking people in water that is 3 feet deep in some areas and 15 feet deep in other areas," Billings said. The search will pause for the night, then pick back up on Saturday morning.
Body found a week later after an extensive search
