The waters below No Hands Bridge’s concrete arches usually make for a picturesque and popular northern California swimming hole, appearing inviting enough for Victor Nguyen to jump in on a late April visit. But fast-moving currents were too much for the 22-year-old. He was among the victims of what authorities warn are heightened dangers on the state’s rivers this year.
Waters are flowing off the Sierra Nevada at volumes rarely seen in decades as record-high mountain snowfall melts. Rivers up and down California’s Central Valley are coursing with such might, and at such frigid temperatures, that authorities warn few people could survive in them.
The powerful water is adding a new layer of consequences and concerns resulting from an onslaught of winter storms that unleashed paralyzing amounts of snow, widespread flooding and destruction across the long-drought-stricken state.
At least eight people have disappeared in rapids this spring, the San Jose Mercury News reported. Authorities told The Washington Post that although drownings and swift-water rescues are common every year as snow melts and Californians flock to the wilderness, this year’s conditions are presenting unfamiliar and underestimated dangers for Californians who have grown accustomed to diminished flows.
“The water is flowing so hard and so fast,” said Mike Boudreaux, the sheriff in Tulare County, where two men are missing after they were recently swept away in the Tule and Kaweah rivers. “I think they don’t understand the magnitude and the force behind that water.”
Historic snowpack turns rivers treacherous
The river flows are the product of a snowpack that ended up more than twice the norm in much of the Sierra, especially toward the southern end of the mountain range. A key measurement taken near Lake Tahoe in April found the snowpack to be among the deepest ever measured there.
Behind the deluge of precipitation were successive storms known as atmospheric rivers — systems that deliver extended plumes of tropical moisture. Those storms could become more extreme as climate change increases the amount of water they can carry.
The large number and scope of storms produced fears of a surge of snowmelt that could produce more flooding, but a relatively cool spring has largely prevented that. A long-dried-up Tulare Lake has covered farmland with water in the southern Central Valley, but, otherwise, riverbanks and levees have remained sufficient to contain the surging waters.
Nevertheless, rivers have for weeks remained at flows that are extreme compared to conditions in recent years.
On the lower American River in Sacramento County, for example, river data showed flows surged to more than 15,000 cubic feet per second for more than a week, levels not seen in more than a decade. By comparison, flows peaked at that level briefly in June 2019, and at 13,000 cubic feet per second in June 2011 and June 2017, county spokesman Ken Casparis said.
A cubic foot of water weighs about 62 pounds, meaning anyone trying to fight the current in many of the state’s rivers is going up against thousands of pounds of force.
Frigid, swift waters prompt river closures
Because of that, authorities are cautioning against any casual recreation in many rivers that would otherwise be havens for swimming, fishing and picnicking.
In Tulare County, officials have declared the Tule, Kern and Kaweah rivers off-limits for casual recreation, although rafting and kayaking with proper safety equipment and training are still allowed. Boudreaux said those restrictions could remain in place through the summer.
Similar restrictions have been placed on major rivers including the Merced, San Joaquin and Kings — the latter of which swept two children away in late May.
Nguyen jumped into the American River’s waters in the Auburn State Recreation Area despite pleas from his friends not to, said Sgt. Kevin Griffiths, who leads the swift-water rescue team for the Placer County Sheriff’s Office. His body was found three weeks later in Folsom Lake, nearly 10 miles downstream.
A second man disappeared after jumping into the river’s North Fork on Mother’s Day and has not been seen since. That area, near a historic suspension bridge known as Yankee Jim’s, is also a popular spot for swimming and relaxing. Those who have come to the same spots year after year for recreation could easily underestimate how much more dangerous the river is than usual, Griffiths said.
That’s not just because of the surging currents, but because into May, waters remained dangerously cold — 45 degrees on the American River, Griffiths said — making swimmers especially susceptible to hypothermia.
Three or four drownings occur on Placer County waterways in a typical year, county spokeswoman Wendy Williams said, “so having two drownings prior to summer is very concerning,” she wrote in an email.
Rescues have already been common around the state, as the weather warms and people increasingly flock to watering holes. Sacramento County teams have made a dozen rescues, including one involving six people, Casparis said. In Tulare County, Boudreaux said teams also have made a dozen rescues, its normal activity for a full summer.
Griffiths said his team has not performed any swift-water rescues yet this spring, in part because waters are so high, there are fewer spots for people to be stranded. He said he would consider his team lucky to pull anyone out alive, given the conditions on the American River.
Outfitters adapt to changed rivers
Not all recreation has been halted on the river, though; it just looks different, said Jeremiah Copper, who runs rafting trips on rivers across California and Oregon through Tributary Whitewater Tours.
Sections that are typically safe for rafting trips with young children are more appropriate for teenagers, for example, Copper said, and he might take a bachelor party group down a stretch of river that is typically best for teens.
And although a two-month rafting season typically begins in April, this season, conditions are only just becoming ideal, meaning trips could for once extend to the Fourth of July, Copper said.
River outfitters are stressing that with their guidance, recreation can still be safe.
“Peoples’ lives are in our hands,” said Nate Rangel, the executive director of Friends of the River, an organization that advocates for the rafting industry.
But authorities are stressing to most people that without the proper training or equipment, California’s rivers are going to remain treacherous well into summer — however inviting they might look.
“When you’re standing on the water’s edge, it’s very beautiful to look at,” Boudreaux said. “There’s just a tremendous amount of force behind that water right now.”
