It was a nice place to pitch a tent along the Nooksack — until the weekend rain

A sandbar along the Nooksack River may have appeared to be an inviting place to pitch a tent, but weekend rains nearly turned it into disaster for one man.

Whatcom County Fire District 1 responded to 3536 Cedarville Road near Nugents Corner at 11:04 a.m. Sunday after a resident in the area heard somebody yelling for help and found a man stranded on an island in the Nooksack River, Chief Mel Blankers said.

“Normally the northeast side there is pretty dry, and the water just runs around that area,” Blankers told The Bellingham Herald Monday. “But with the heavy rains we had, it came up quick.”

The National Weather Service Seattle office reported Bellingham International Airport received 1.73 inches of precipitation Friday through Sunday, including 0.84 inches on Sunday. According to NOAA’s Northwest River Forecast Center, the Nooksack River spiked about 4.5 feet at that location during Sunday’s heavy rains.

Blankers estimated the island that the man found himself stranded on about a quarter mile downstream from the Mount Baker Highway was separated from shore by a 20-foot channel of water that was up to three- or four-feet deep with a fast-moving current.

“You could see the water level actually rising during the hour that we were on scene and coming up with a plan,” Blankers said. “It was definitely changing. ... The river was high and fast and there was a lot of debris in the river.”

That debris prevented a boat rescue, Blankers said, so District 1 crews, along with the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue members and a Border Patrol Search, Trauma and Rescue (BORSTAR) team came up with a plan to work their way through the rushing waters out to the stranded man. Rescue crews then used ropes to assist the man back to safety on shore.

Blankers said the man was uninjured, though Blankers said he was unsure of the man’s age or why he was on the sandbar before it became an island.

“We get those types of calls pretty frequently when we have heavy rains,” Blankers said. “It’s just something you need to be aware of.”

This story was originally published October 29, 2018 at 1:28 PM with the headline "It was a nice place to pitch a tent along the Nooksack — until the weekend rain."