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Posted

I usually check this website every Monday to see what kind of carnage there was on Missouri waterways each weekend.

http://www.mshp.dps.missouri.gov/WP03/search.jsp

This time it was a little too close to home for me.

The incident on the Meramec above the k bridge happened as we watched and I ended up calling 911 and then used my boat to help the paramedics get the injured people to shore for the trip in the ambulance.

If you have run the river there just above the k bridge, you know as the water drops, the big rocks become a hazard in the middle of the channel. You have to stay to the right there as you go upstream. But every year I have seen guys going up and down right in the middle and every year I see and hear some hitting rocks. There was two on Saturday and the first guy was lucky. The second guy not so much.

We were standing on our dock as the guy came by heading down stream and as we watched I said to the group that was with me, hope he steers left. But he never did and when he got to the big rocks he hit hard. The boat hit, careened up in the air and did a corkscrew kind of thing, and all the passengers flew into the water. And there was the usual whine up of the motor. When it came down it was sideways and took on water right away. But with the water as low as it was, it stayed right there on the rocks.

We heard the screams of the injured people so I jumped in my boat along with my daughter and headed to him by going left and coming back to him slowly from below. Once there I could see it was bad so I called 911 and helped as best I could till the paramedics got there. There were some other there that helped hold the lady and my daughter tried to comfort the boy.

Once they arrived, the paramedics ended up wading over from the shore and the injured lady was strapped to a back board and we used my boat to bring her over to their shore.

We found out later that the lady had a spinal injury as expected and the little boy had a broken jaw, a skull fracture, and had to get stitches. The boat was totaled as well.

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Posted

I hated hearing about all that mess. For the last week or so every time I hear a boat go by I stop to listen as they navigate the two bad spots by my house. It's becoming a pretty constant to hear a impact and the engine high rev noise. Saturday before that wreck I witnessed 4 boats at one riffle cleaning out their jets and underwear

Posted

The Meramec is flowing 184 cfs at the Sullivan gauge. No way I'd try to run it much of anywhere between Onondaga and Moselle at that flow. It needs at least 300 cfs to be runnable, and even then you're probably going to be sucking some gravel and in danger of hitting a rock in a bunch of riffles.

Posted

Wow, flying around on a jet ski at 9:15 at night. Hit’s a pontoon, flees the scene and then kills himself hitting a concrete catwalk. Amazing. Think alcohol was involved?

Posted

The Gasconade is getting pretty tricky as well. There is a big poker run between Hwy 42 and Bell Chutes August 9. If we don't get any rain between now and then, it could make for an interesting run. Three years ago was really low and there were several people who shoaled there boats and had to push off.

Posted

Wow, flying around on a jet ski at 9:15 at night. Hit’s a pontoon, flees the scene and then kills himself hitting a concrete catwalk. Amazing. Think alcohol was involved?

I saw that one too. That's a crazy story right there...

-- Jim

If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles. -- Doug Larson

Posted

Blazerman glad you were there to help.

With Niangua being my main river and all the rain missing its watershed since very early spring I haven't even thought of getting the jet boat out. I have ran it comfortably down to around 225/250 CFS but it hasn't been above 200 for several months... I hate that people either don't understand the dangers of jet's or they don't have any experience on the river. I have been on the Niangua for over 30 years and I am pretty sure I know where most of the big rocks are, this year is not a year to be a beginner or a cocky on any of our rivers.

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