River Incident Reports

Read these reports to learn from others' mistakes and avoid hardship on your river trip. Note: These are not exhaustive lists, but mere samples of the types of river incidents recorded over the years.


Fatal Incidents:

Date Location

Flow
(CFS)

Age
Sex

Type of
Trip

08/30/67 Spanish Bottom 5,140
26
M
Comm
05/31/73 Big Drops 34,800
60
M
Private
08/07/74 Mile 206 6,740
56
M
Comm
06/20/75 Rapid 3 47,700
24
M
Private
06/12/79 Brown Betty Rapid 49,200
20
M
Private
05/25/80 The Slide 38,400
25
M
Private
11/10/82 Big Drop Three 12,480
32
F
Private
05/20/83 Big Drop Two or Three 32,600
48
M
Private
04/27/93 Big Drop Three 18,840
46
M
Private
05/29/93 Big Drop Two 69,900
70
M
Private
06/03/93 Mile Long to Big Drops 63,300
51
M
Private
05/17/95 Big Drop Two 33,900
41
M
Comm
09/27/97 Big Drop Two 16,890
40
M
Private
05/12/00 Big Drop Two 27,000
74
M
Comm


Non-Fatal Injury/Illness Incidents:

Collapsed Siltbank
Airplane Crash
Fall Overboard, Cut by Propeller
Jump into Shallow Water
Woeful Unpreparedness
Capsized, then Started a Wildfire
Attempted Suicide
Capsized Kayaks
Jump from Unstable Sandbank
Capsized, Hypothermia
Miscarriage
Near-Drowning
Hiking Fall
Kidney Stones
Impaired Judgement (Alcohol)
Involuntary Swimming
Preexisting Health Condition
Runaway Canoe
Hiking & Involuntary Swimming
Flooded & Lost Canoe
Flash Flood in Campsite

Last updated: December 7, 2014

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