Drought makes Logan County waterways more unsafe

[July 04, 2012]  Hot weather, summer days and a lazy creek. Some may think that sounds like a cool way to while away some summer time. But, creeks in Logan County, and in many other parts of Illinois for that matter, can be treacherous, watery death traps.

Debris has been building up since funding to clear creeks dried up in the 1970s. Boils, swells and undertows form where fallen trees clog streams, and this can even pull a kayak under.

Adam Stapleton learned that in May 2010, when as leader of his group, he rounded a hairpin curve on Salt Creek only to discover a logjam. He was pulled under a log, sucked into a hole and held there. Search and rescue efforts on the flooded waterway went on for days before he was found.

In May 2008, Billy Ray Eskew was camping on Salt Creek near the Sportsman's Club and went missing. His body was not found for weeks due to being held under by a swale.

Emergency personnel and volunteers are called out every year and typically search for hours for missing people. Their efforts are usually near or after dark, looking for people who have gone out on creeks to tube, canoe, kayak or boat and not returned home when expected.

Anxious family members often spend hours into the night wondering, fearing the worst. In most instances, it all turns out all right. The missing people are nearly always found safe and sound -- sometimes just forgot to call or changed plans after they were done and off the water.

In the past five years, four lives have been lost on Logan County waterways; all were accidental, but avoidable. The other two drownings not listed were in vehicles that entered floodwaters.

Emergency Management Agency director Dan Fulscher is even more concerned for lives this year. Drought conditions have complicated search and rescue options. The best means of searching is by boat. However, because area creeks are too low, it is now impossible to put the boat on the water.

As an example of how low creeks are, with only 56 percent of the normal precipitation this spring, Salt Creek at Greenview has fallen from being over 5 feet deep last July to under 1 foot this May.

Fulscher strongly advises not going out on local creeks, but if you do go, go prepared.

He suggests the following safety measures:

• Use a properly fitted life jacket.

• Bring a cellphone.

• Appoint designated observers and set checkpoints.

• Be off the water several hours before dark

• Let others know where you are and when you will be back.

• Avoid consuming too much alcohol.

Fulscher also pointed out that a regular cellphone is preferable to a track phone. A track phone does not send a signal that can show where the call originates, which could hinder response time.

[LDN]