Snow melt making streams, rivers unsafe

A snowpack reported at nearly 200 percent of average is beginning to melt and as the temperature warms, that melting will increase, swelling local streams and rivers with fast moving, cold water.

Already this year an 11-year-old boy drowned in Sequoia National Park when he fell into a fast running creek last weekend.

“Not only is it high, it’s cold,” said Denise Alonzo, public affairs officer for the Western Divide Ranger District on Sequoia National Forest, of the water coming down off the mountains.

She expects that high, cold water in rivers like the Tule to remain that way until late June or early July, depending on the weather.

So far, temperatures have remained mild, meaning a slower snow melt and also not making streams and rivers as inviting as they will be when it warms up. But, it is warming up with highs in the upper 70s and low 80s predicted over the next seven days, with 90s just around the corner.

“With the heavy spring run off and a snow melt, which will last well into the summer months, people should stay out of the rivers. The water is extremely cold and very fast moving,” said Tulare County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Chris Galvez Douglass.

“Several years ago we had a lady in Three Rivers swept away when she was in only a few inches of water when she lost her footing on slick granite rocks, fell into deeper water and drowned. Normal flotation devices will not work in swift water conditions and retail store rafts and tubes are not rated for the conditions we are currently seeing,” she warned.

Alonzo said not only is the main fork of the Tule running higher and faster than normal, so are the smaller fingers of the river and many streams, like Belknap Creek that runs through the Belknap Campground.

While the water may look inviting on a warm day, the frigid temperature will quickly zap a person of all of their energy — energy needed to survive in the water. That is true for Success Lake as well, especially right now with the water so cold.

The Sheriff’s Department Swift Water Rescue team has been called out once this year, but the person that had been reported overdue floating down the river was found safe and not in the water.

However, both the Tulare County Fire Department and the sheriff’s department searched the banks from down stream up before the man was found.

The Swift Water team is made up of the entire Dive Team and some Search and Rescue team members, said Douglass.

According to Douglass, the main rivers in Tulare County to be careful of are the Kern River from Johnsonville to Kernville and Kaweah River from Mineral King to Lake Kaweah.

However, water in the Kings River is high and dangerous and the county has actually closed it to recreational use until the river level drops.

Alonzo said the Tule River is not as dangerous because it “just doesn’t run as high as the Kaweah River” and doesn’t get as many visitors. Still, she cautioned that people should avoid the water until later in the summer. “We don’t encourage anybody go swimming in the water.”