Two 17-year-olds and a 15-year-old attempting to float in tubes on the rapidly flowing Arkansas River Thursday morning had to be rescued by the Hutchinson Fire Department after they became trapped in a row of trees.
The two girls and a boy got stuck about 100 yards downstream from the bridge near Fourth Avenue and Mohawk Road.
The fire department was dispatched to the scene after one of the teenagers carrying a cellphone called 911.
U.S. Geological Survey monitors showed the river at Hutchinson, where the flood stage is 8 feet, was at 6.8 feet at the time, and the water was flowing at more than 5,900 cubic feet per second.
One of the youths was struggling to stay afloat and another had a foot stuck in some trees, according to fire department Battalion Chief Jeremy Unruh, who said none of the teens was wearing a life jacket.
The fire department floated an inflatable boat, secured from the Fourth Avenue bridge by a rope, downstream to rescue the teens and then pulled it to shore.
“We sent two of our rescue techs on a boat out to their location,” Unruh said. “We had one person that was struggling. We got them in the boat first, got the other two in life vests, pulled them on the boat and retrieved them to the shore safely.”
There were no injuries, and the three teens were turned over to a parent.
Due to the local flooding conditions from recent torrential rains, Reno County issued a local disaster emergency proclamation on Wednesday. The declaration implements portions of the Local Emergency Operations Plan that prohibit anyone from being in floodwaters. The proclamation is in effect for the next six days.
Reno County Sheriff Randy Henderson clarified Thursday afternoon, however, that the Arkansas River is a navigable river, so the restriction does not apply.
Nevertheless, “we strongly recommend that people stay out of the Arkansas River due to the rapid movement of the water and hidden debris in the riverbed,” Henderson stated on the department’s Facebook page.
“People don’t realize that when it’s an overly powerful current and high water, that’s very dangerous,” Unruh said.
———
©2016 The Hutchinson News (Hutchinson, Kan.)
Visit The Hutchinson News (Hutchinson, Kan.) at www.hutchnews.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
