Several drownings reported during Northwest heat wave
From staff and wire reports
SEATTLE – Several people have drowned or been reported missing after swimming in Pacific Northwest bodies of water during the record-breaking heat wave in the past few days.
A Port Orchard man is believed to have drowned in Horseshoe Lake on Key Peninsula on Monday afternoon, according to South Kitsap Fire and Rescue. Crews were called to the lake and firefighters found that people had pulled the man from the water and were performing CPR, according to South Kitsap Division Chief Jon Gudmundsen.
The man was taken to a Tacoma hospital but he did not survive, Gudmundsen said.
Also on Monday, rescuers recovered the body of a 4-year-old boy from the Skykomish River in King County who had fallen out of a kayak.
On Sunday, a man died while jumping from a cliff into Long Lake, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office said. Witnesses told deputies that the man had jumped from an area known as “The Cove,” the same location where a 22-year-old man died while cliff jumping in 2019. Officials had yet to determine a cause of death Wednesday.
In Oregon, a Salem woman died Monday after getting caught in a rip current near a beach in the coastal town of Lincoln City, authorities said.
Firefighters said the 48-year-old woman was pulled underwater on the north end of the beach when the weather quickly changed and the calm water became rough in the afternoon, KOIN reported. The woman couldn’t swim and rescuers found her facedown in the water, officials said. She died at a hospital.
Klamath County sheriff’s deputies said a 77-year-old Rogue River man drowned on Saturday at Crescent Lake. Witnesses said he had been in the water for about an hour before he was found by divers who were recreating in the area, KTVZ reported.
On Tuesday evening, people searched for a man who disappeared underwater in Sandy River at Dabney State Recreation Area outside Troutdale, Oregon. Multnomah County deputies said swimmers reported dangerous currents and crews could only search by helicopter and raft.
On Wednesday, the search had become a recovery effort, officials said.