C-T: With water levels still high, emergency responders urge folks to stay off the river

Heavy rains — more than 8 inches in many parts of WNC — and continued flood dangers have local emergency personnel urging boaters and others to stay off the river. “‘Just don’t do it,'” the Asheville Citizen-Times says. A kayaker on the Big East Fork of the Pigeon River died last week, paddling with friends during high waters over the holiday.

From the Asheville Citizen-Times

Emergency personnel in the Asheville area have had to undertake six swift-water rescues over the past week, including a mission last week on the raging Big East Fork of the Pigeon River in Haywood County in which a Kentucky man drowned after falling out of his kayak.

The Asheville Fire Department has taken part in five swift-water rescues since July 1, most of them on the French Broad River, firefighter Kelley Klope said. The department also assisted in a rescue on the Pigeon River in Canton on Sunday.

“People just don’t understand the intensity of the water,” Klope said. “You can’t always control where you go.” …

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About Margaret Williams
Editor Margaret Williams first wrote for Xpress in 1994. An Alabama native, she has lived in Western North Carolina since 1987 and completed her Masters of Liberal Arts & Sciences from UNC-Asheville in 2016. Follow me @mvwilliams

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