As area creeks and rivers crest well above normal levels this weekend due to recent heavy rainfall, emergency rescue personnel encourage outdoor enthusiasts to respect the water.

On Wednesday, after a man’s kayak overturned, rescue personnel pulled the man to safety on Drakes Creek, which at the time had swelled 2 feet above its normal level. The man, whose name was not released, was carrying a personal flotation device inside his boat but was not wearing it. The man yelled for help and clung to a log in the water. 

Warren County Emergency Management Deputy Director Brian Geringswald, who was in the area testing radio equipment and checking water levels, heard the man’s distress call and requested rescue personnel to the scene.

“But for his quick response, life safety could have been compromised,” said Stephen Harmon, spokesman for the Warren County Sheriff’s Office and the Warren County Technical Rescue Team. 

The technical rescue team had been called to 11 water incidents in 2016 as of Friday, Harmon said.  

Emergency responders are working on preventative measures to alert boaters to dangerous water conditions and a system for helping stranded people tell responders how to find them. Responders are also asking the public to wear life jackets in or near waterways.

“What we’ve seen through the incidents so far this year are avid swimmers who become in distress in the water, whether it be an overturned kayak or someone who is swimming who gets exhausted,” Harmon said. “What we want the public to do is take the approach that all of the emergency service crews take, and that is if you are close to the water, you have a (personal flotation device) PFD on. Certainly if it’s important for us, it’s critical for the public.”

Two weeks ago, the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources issued six citations in one day to people on watercraft who did not have life jackets.

“The law says you have to have a properly fitting PFD for each occupant of the vessel,” Harmon said. “That covers canoes and kayaks. A vessel is any watercraft made for transportation.”

While the law only requires that boaters have a PFD for each person aboard a vessel, rescue workers strongly encourage people to actually wear life jackets and to make sure the life jackets properly fit each person. Inner tubes are also considered watercraft.

“That’s the first and foremost important water safety tip,” Harmon said.

So far, in every water incident that rescue personnel have been called out on this year, there has been some lack of PFD use – either no PFD was present or a person was not wearing it.

“If you plan on swimming in a body of water other than a pool with a lifeguard, in order to be safe you must have a PFD, you must be wearing a PFD,” Harmon said. “Treat any body of water as unfamiliar as conditions can be deceptive. Even in incidents with avid swimmers and experienced kayakers, they have told officials the conditions of the water have changed from time to time. 

“Even though the water may appear calm, the current in the water can almost be undetectable until you are in it. After a heavy rain, the depth of the water changes which also causes the water to be more swift, and your chances for water-related emergencies double depending on the swiftness of the water.”

Due to the rain, the portion of Drakes Creek in Warren County which is normally about 8 feet deep was at 17 feet Thursday morning, Warren County Emergency Management Director Ronnie Pearson said. 

Drakes Creek was expected to crest over the weekend at more than 25.5 feet, 1 1/2 feet deeper than flood stage, according to the National Weather Service Advance Hydrologic Prediction.

“People that are going to be on the waterway need to have a keen awareness of current and upcoming weather forecasts and also have a way to make an emergency call or means of communication,” Harmon said. “Any time you hear thunder or see lightning, you should always exit the waterway immediately.”

High water levels mean the water is moving faster with more debris in it, and it is harder to see the debris because the water is murkier, Pearson said. A large piece of debris is capable of overturning small watercraft such as a canoe.

“If you take seven additional feet of water, it is moving quickly,” Pearson said. “It covers all of the trees and debris that are now under the water. So if a person falls out of their kayak or canoe and gets their leg hung on a tree limb, they can’t fight against the pull of that water and they get stuck there and drown.”

It only takes 6 inches of moving water to pick up an automobile, he said. Anyone who wants to be on the water needs to become educated about water conditions and how quickly those conditions can change.

On Thursday afternoon, boat ramps at Phil Moore and Romanza Johnson parks were closed because of the high water levels.   

The county is working on a warning signal plan to assist the public in gauging water conditions, like those at public beaches where flags are used to warn beach-goers.

“We’re going to look at the possibility of putting flags at Romanza Johnson and Phil Moore parks,” Pearson said. “That’s one of things we’re investigating.”

The parks department and emergency management also hope to develop a public/private partnership with a canoe/kayak organization to help place mile markers along public waterways. That way, if someone becomes stranded on a waterway and needs to call for help, that person can tell emergency responders that he or she is near a certain mile marker.

“We’re looking at alternative ways to expedite dispatching or rescue services with stranded boaters, missing kayakers or overdue boaters and kayakers,” Pearson said. Overdue boaters are people who were expected to return at a certain time but did not.

Emergency responders will also work to refresh existing signage that may be faded.

“We’re going to look at signage thoroughly at all the public areas on the local waterways to improve visibility and information as we have done at a few locations,” he said. 

Like other emergency responders, Pearson strongly encourages anyone using the water to always wear a life vest. The man pulled from Drakes Creek on Wednesday might not have survived if Geringswald hadn’t been near the water that day.

“If it hadn’t been for Brian in the right place at the right time, the outcome would have been completely different. Please take and use your PFD,” Pearson said.

— Follow Assistant City Editor Deborah Highland on Twitter @BGDNCrimebeat or visit bgdailynews.com.