Accident Database

Report ID# 3935

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  • Flush Drowning
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  • High Water

Accident Description

Man, 29, drowns after dam waters overtake kayak on Trinity River

Water has been overflowing at many lakes, including the dam at Lake Worth on Sunday.

BY DEANNA BOYD

Tarrent County: The body of a man who disappeared Saturday after water released from the Eagle Mountain Dam overtook his kayak was found Sunday afternoon in a discharge pool of the Trinity River, officials said. Joshua Reed, 29, of Fort Worth, and five others had apparently entered a restricted area to kayak in the Trinity River channel, downstream of Eagle Mountain’s main dam, around 7 p.m., according to Chad Lorance, a spokesman with the Tarrant Regional Water District. The kayakers told authorities that they had paddled up to the dam’s discharge apron when water released through the dam from Eagle Mountain Lake overtook their kayaks. Lorance said the water had been released because the lake was full.

Alerted to the incident at about 10 p.m., TRWD police, game wardens, Eagle Mountain and Fort Worth fire departments, and a Fort Worth police helicopter searched by ground and air for the kayakers, which included a 6-year-old girl. “The little girl was rescued by a TRWD law enforcement officer,” Lorance said. Three or four members of the party were taken to area hospitals for treatment of scrapes, abrasions and hypothermia before being released, Lorance said. Reed’s body was located at 2:40 p.m Sunday inside the river’s discharge pool near the main dam area. His death has been ruled an accidental drowning by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office. Reed’s was at least the second appparent drowning in the Metroplex over the weekend.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article22337232.html#storylink=cpy

The body of a Lake Worth man was discovered over the weekend after his kayak was swept away on the Trinity River.

Joshua Reed, 29, was kayaking with friends Saturday when they paddled into a restricted area.

That's when discharge waters released through the dam from Eagle Mountain Lake overtook them. 

The groups' kayaks capsized. Everyone in the group except for Reed managed to swim out of the current and get to safety.

Reed's friends say that the outing had nothing to do with thrill seeking; they were just friends who went out for a nice time.

"He was just a go-to guy,” said Jonathan Hamm, a friend of Reed's. “He loved doing everything. If he tried something and he loved it, he was hooked on it.”

Jason Snook, a friend of Reed's who was kayaking with him, says a fence that separates the area was likely underwater, and they didn't see any signs that warned of the danger.

Reed's body was discovered Sunday afternoon by search crews with the Tarrant Regional Water District.  

A Tarrant Regional Water District spokesman says that there are warning signs posted, but at dusk or when it's dark, they're likely hard to spot.  

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