Kayak Park In The Works On Illinois River (Arkansas)

[bfishn]

Sad news this week;

The city of Siloam Springs has canceled the grand opening of the Whitewater Recreational Park out of respect for the family of Tuesday’s (June 17) drowning victim, officials announced Wednesday (June 18).

Evan Thomas, 16, was named as the victim in an accidental drowning at Siloam Springs’ Whitewater Recreational Park, according to officials.

Authorities were called to the park around 4:20 p.m. in reference to the missing 16-year-old boy, said city spokeswoman Holland Hayden. Officials closed down the park, and a Benton County dive team was called to search the water. City officials announced around 7:50 p.m. the teenager’s body had been found and his parents had been notified.

The boy’s body was pulled from the Illinois River shortly afterward, about 200 yards downstream from the park, Hayden said.

[ollie]

WOW. Interested to know if the park itself was the cause of this poor boys death. Was the water too high? Was he inexperienced in swimming? According to the link with comments down below it really didn't happen in the park. Hopefully more info will come out. Very sad and I feel sorry for the parents and other family and friends.

[bfishn]

The river shouldn't be much above normal if any. The young man was on the swim team at school.

[Quillback]

Sad deal.

[Guest]

It occurred 100 yards downstream of that run out.

If I'm the engineer of that, I would ask if they demolish it before others get hurt.

I don't see it as a coincidence.

I live upstream on the Illinois River, it was rolling on June 10th.

So, it wasn't slack by any means.

[Guest]

By looking at the USGS streamgauge, it was normal flow that day.

Very sad for the family, friends & rescuers who pulled him from the river.

If I remember correctly, there's a rope swing in the vicinity.

Those can be dangerous, if a flood pushes gravel in the hole & fills It up.

I'm not saying that's what happened, but its always a possibility.

I can assure you, that I wont be taking my family down there.

[LunkerB]

I just moved to Buena Vista, Colorado. It is up near the Headwaters of the Arkansas river. There are 6 engineered rapids in town. It seems like they are fun to float through but the main objective of whitewater rapids is to make a "hole" that kayakers and paddleboarders can get into and stay in facing upstream so they can practice tricks in. I was shocked when I first saw a guy on a paddleboard standing up, facing upstream, in a class 2-3 rapid, doing tricks. When he wiped out he had a small window to get his board and get back to shore before going through 100 yds of rough water but he did it and so do many others. I moved here from MO on June 13 and so far 3-4 people have died on the river. I was shocked at that and hundreds of people still go out there daily. There is a very deep respect up here for the river, you have to have it or it will kill you. Anyway, the river is stuffed full of browns. With the swift current you can gaurantee there is a brown behind every decent sized rock for 50 miles in every direction, or at least it has seemed that way.

[Amery]

It's not a darn theme park. It is intended for experienced paddlers. It's really simple, if you don't have whitewater experience don't go there. Everyone in their tubes and Colman canoes need to stick to the Oklahoma section of the river. The park is perfectly safe for experienced paddlers. There are smallmouth in those rapids as well.

[ollie]

And OKC gets it done.  This is what I was expecting from NWA.

http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Canoe-Kayak/Features/2016/February/24/Riversport-Rapids