Father, son rescued kayaking on Nooksack River a reminder of Whatcom water dangers in heat
A father and son out for a kayaking trip on Sunday on the Nooksack River got a scare, but did not suffer any serious injuries, but it should serve as a reminder of the dangers on area waters caused by Whatcom County’s recent heat wave.
Whatcom County Fire District 16 was called at 3:52 p.m. June 27 to the 4600 block of the Valley Highway, near where it was crosses the Nooksack River for a water rescue.
Crews arrived to find a man in his 30s and his 4-year-old son stranded at the confluence of the North and South forks of the Nooksack River, Chief Hank Maleng told The Bellingham Herald.
Crews learned that the father and son had been out kayaking on the North Fork, when they took on water and lost their paddle, Maleng reported.
Firefighters called for the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office’s Search and Rescue boat to pick up the pair and bring them to safety, according to Maleng, and they were checked out and found to have suffered no serious injuries.
“People need to use caution around the water, especially that area (the Nooksack River),” Maleng said. “It is so dangerous right now. It’s so hot and the river is running so high and so rapidly. It’s almost as fast as we see during winter storms, or even in the fall. There is a lot of water in the river right now.”
The Nooksack near Deming was swollen throughout the weekend and brown in color — a sign of how fast it was running to pick up sediment.
USGS measuring stations for the Nooksack River show that though the river flow remains below record levels along the North Fork and in Ferndale, the river’s daily discharge is well above the 75th percentile for water volume on this date over the past eight decades. The North Fork measuring station was showing 2,730 cubic feet per second — the max was 3,170 in 2002 — while the station in Ferndale showed 6,600 cubic feet per second — the max was 7,070 in 2002.
And despite the hot air, water temperatures on area lakes and rivers remain dangerously cold, the National Weather Service has repeatedly tweeted the past few weeks, making area waters even more dangerous.
“Please be cautious around any water right now,” Maleng said.
