Two Teenage Girls Drown In Separate Incidents

Two young girls, ages 13 and 14, lost their lives in separate drowning incidents on the Kaweah River at Hospital Rock in mid-July. On Saturday, July 18th, park dispatch received a 911 call at about 3 p.m. from a pay phone in the Hospital Rock picnic area. The caller reported that a 13-year-old girl was trapped under a rock and drowning. Rangers arrived on scene within 15 minutes. The young girl was visible beneath the surface, but rescue efforts were unsuccessful, as one of her lower limbs was apparently caught under a rock or limb under a large, partially submerged boulder. Rangers were able to recover her body two hours later. On the next day, park dispatch received another 911 call from the Hospital Rock picnic area at about 8 p.m.  The caller stated that a 14-year-old girl had disappeared under a large rock while swimming with her family and did not reappear on the downstream side of the rock. Rangers again arrived on scene with 15 minutes of the report. They immediately searched the area of the boulder under which the girl had disappeared, but were unsuccessful. A search of the downstream river banks continued until midnight. Large searchlights were set up after dark and downstream containment was conducted throughout the night. At first light, a park contract helicopter searched the river corridor, focusing on deep pools downstream of the point where she’d last been seen. Park swiftwater rescue technicians and a local dive team from the Tulare County Sheriff's Office also arrived to search the underwater area beneath the large boulder where the girl was last seen. At 11 a.m., helicopter crew members spotted what might be her body at the bottom of a large deep pool about 300 feet downstream from the point last seen.  Divers from the Sheriff’s Office searched the pool and recovered the body of the 14-year old girl. Statistics from past drownings in the park show that most occur in late spring and early summer, when temperatures are often in excess of 100° F, river currents are very high (averaging above 1000 cubic feet per second, with flow rates in May 2009 above 2700 cubic feet per second), and water temperatures are below 50° F.  Daytime air temperatures during the weekend were above 105° F, water temperature ranged in the high 60s to low 70s, and the river was flowing at less than 150 cubic feet per second.  Signs in English and Spanish warned visitors of dangerous river conditions. Volunteer river rovers were on duty both Saturday and Sunday afternoon, warning visitors of dangerous river currents.  The weekend was also a “fee free” weekend, resulting in high visitation in the lower foothills river access areas.