Gaston County emergency crews rescued a teenage boy from an island in the South Fork River in Spencer Mountain on Tuesday morning and were still searching the flooded waters for his friend who remains missing.
The boy, who was not wearing any clothes when he was brought to safety, was taken from the island around 9:15 a.m. after apparently spending the night outside, according to rescue workers. He and a friend had apparently gone to the river to swim around 6:30 p.m. Monday.
Firefighters and medical personnel were on the Stanley Spencer Mountain Road bridge trying to find the second person. A passer-by on Stanley Spencer Mountain Road, near Rohm Road, saw the boy waving for help and alerted emergency workers to the teenage boy at 6:40 a.m.
Emergency management officials said they were able to communicate with the boy via a PA system and that he was not hurt.
Officials have not released much more information about the other person, only saying they believe that person could be somewhere else on the river, but they are not sure exactly where.
More resources, including aerial support from the Charlotte Fire Department, were being called to the scene.
Water levels in Gaston County are still several feet above the flood stage because of heavy rains over the weekend.
Mecklenburg County officials said in a release Tuesday morning that heavy rainfall in the Catawba River Basin has resulted in rising lake levels. On Monday, the water level in Mountain Island Lake rose to 6.9 feet above its normal full pond elevation, which is the highest recorded water level on the lake since 1940.
Upstream of Mountain Island Lake in Lake Norman and downstream in Lake Wylie water levels are at or above flood elevations. The high lake levels have caused raw sewage, gasoline from overturned boats and other pollutants to discharge to the lakes, creating potential human health concerns.
High water levels also create very unsafe conditions for swimmers.
Gazette news partner WSOC TV contributed to this report.
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