Boaters advised to avoid Iowa rivers, reservoirs

On the eve of the year's most popular outdoor recreation weekend, the Department of Natural Resources advises boaters and other water sport enthusiasts to avoid rain-swollen rivers and reservoirs.

“With the recent flooding, I would really encourage boaters to head to a lake because our rivers and flood control reservoirs really are not safe in their current condition,” said Susan Stocker, boating law administrator with the DNR.

Apart from deep water and swift current, the rivers and reservoirs are carrying heavy loads of trees and other debris that present an additional navigation hazard, Stocker said.

If boaters heed that advice, Iowa lakes will be more crowded than ever, requiring additional care, courtesy and patience on the part of boaters, she said.

In the wake of last weekend's near tragedy on the Wapsipinicon River at Central City, Stocker said boaters, canoeists and kayakers should steer clear of low head dams altogether.

Since 1900, Iowa has recorded 153 dam-related deaths, and the toll could have easily gone higher Sunday evening when three boaters went over the dam at Central City.

“If I ever rode in a washing machine, that'd probably be what it would be like,” Tyler Snobl, 27, of Cedar Rapids, told Gazette reporter Jeff Raasch. “You don't know which way you're going, which way you're flipping, or which way is up.”

Snobl and Jeremy Domer, 23, of Central City, were passengers in a fishing boat when its operator, Trent Holub, 32, of Central City, got too close to the upstream edge of the dam and the current pulled them over.

While his friends somehow broke free of the circulating current and escaped the river, Snobl clung to the overturned boat for about an hour until firefighters could get a rope to him and pull him ashore.

Holub was arrested and charged with boating while intoxicated, underscoring the DNR's warning that boaters should always avoid alcohol and wear their life jackets.

Stocker said the recirculating currents that pin victims in the turbulent water below low head dams are more pronounced when rivers are at elevated levels. “The boil lines are also farther downstream, making it even more difficult to escape,” she said.

Of the 153 dam-related deaths in Iowa, 10 have been at Cedar River dams in Cedar Rapids, nine at the Wapsipinicon dam in Littleton, six at the Cedar River dam at Palisades-Kepler State Park, six at the Iowa River dam in Iowa City and five at Iowa River dams in Coralville.

Stocker said all available DNR personnel will join forces with other agencies to patrol state waterways this weekend in an effort to avoid a repeat of the Memorial Day weekend, when nine boating accidents and two fatalities were recorded.

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