Crime & Safety

18 People, 4 Dogs Rescued from River

Witnesses describe a surge of water stranding more than a dozen on rocks and islands in the Rappahannock.

A Sunday afternoon fishing adventure on the Rappahannock River with your dog might sound like an ideal way to relax. But for Purcellville resident Lorin Patterson, just such an outing became a fight against nature herself when flash flooding trapped him and a dozen others on islands and rocky outcroppings in the middle of an increasingly raging, rising river. 

Witnesses said it all began at about 2:30 p.m. when the Rappahannock suddenly rose an estimated 5 to 6 feet in less than an hour. The rising water trapped 13 people and two dogs on the river near Laucks Island. For a time, the most precarious position was occupied by Patterson, who was dug in against the current and clinging to a rock. 

"I was fishing, and it was crystal clear. Then the water started changing color, and within a minute it was a wave," said Patterson afterwards. "There was no where I could go. I was stuck." 

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Throwing his fishing pole into the river, Patterson fought against the current for more than an hour before he was rescued.

His dog, a brown Vizsla named Jackie, had been swept down river, but had made it to a rocky outcropping between Laucks Island and the Fredericksburg shore. At times, the dog paced back and forth, leaning out over the raging river as if he'd jump in. This prompted anguished onlookers to clap and whistle to try and distract the dog. 

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Meanwhile, Fredericksburg Police Officer Alex Cameron used a bullhorn to communicate in Spanish with a family stranded by the rising waters on Laucks Island. She instructed them to move upstream to calmer waters for extraction.

Rescuers then returned their attention to Patterson. The waters were rising quickly, by shortly after 3 p.m., the rock he was clinging to was beginning to recede under the waters. 

Fredericksburg rescue personnel first attempted to rescue Patterson at about 3:15 p.m. using a two-man inflatable raft approach from upriver, but they mishandled the approach and were unable to properly enter the eddy pool behind the rocks to which Patterson was clinging. For a moment, the two men tried furiously to paddle against the current and into the eddy pool, but the river overpowered them before they turned downstream. 

Then, two rescuers approached Patterson on individual inflatable canoes. Using a different angle of attack, one was able to bring his canoe to a controlled stop upon Patterson's inundated rock. After tossing Patterson a life vest, the rescuer was able to pull him onto the canoe. Patterson held on tight as they departed the rock and endured a bumpy ride down some serious rapids before being able to pull out on the Fredericksburg shore. 

After his rescue, Patterson praised the work of the rescuer who plucked him from the river. 

"He was great," said Patterson. "He was absolutely amazing."

There were still 10 more people trapped amidst raging waters on rocky outcroppings between Laucks Island and the old spillway. One by one, rescuers made precarious trips from rocks to shore ferrying stranded swimmers. Overhead, Park Police officers in a helicopter witnessed the effort.

Once the humans were safely ashore, the rescuers turned their attention to the two dogs, Patterson's Visla and a bull dog named Steel. They were each brought to shore without incident and reunited with their owners. 

As the rescued came to shore, each told a similar tale of a sudden flash flood trapping them on the river. Their descriptions match data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service that shows a sudden rise in water levels on the Rappahannock in the early afternoon. The river gauge above Fredericksburg shows a 3-foot rise in waters within one hour, and a 1-foot rise in river levels in 30 minutes. In total, the river rose from 1.81 feet around noon to 5.4 feet around 4 p.m. Most of that rise came between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. 

It was only at 2:45 p.m. that an alert went out to residents subscribed to the Fredericksburg Alert system warning of flash flooding. By that point, the stranded had been in the river for at least 20 minutes. 

"The water was 2-foot low," said Spotsylvania resident Barry Beavon, who was stranded on rocks in the river with five others for more than an hour. "All of a sudden, here comes a rush of water, and in 35 to 45 seconds it was 5-feet high and roaring."

Wayne Butler, of Stafford County, also reported a sudden surge in water levels. 

"It came up about 5 feet within a minute," said Butler. "We were out there on the rocks and we had to make a split second decision to run to high ground … we were fine, though, we were on high ground. We were more worried for that fella and his dog."

In all, Fredericksburg Fire and Rescue personnel rescued from the river 13 people and two dogs, according to Mary Jo Blake, with the Fredericksburg Police Department. Stafford County rescuers pulled an additional five people and two more dogs from other islands in the river. 


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