On Sunday afternoon, three adults, a 4-year-old girl, and a dog inadvertently found themselves in the Los Angeles River; according to authorities, one adult and the dog perished.
According to the Long Beach Fire Department, the group may have fallen into the water while they were strolling close to the river on Anaheim Street in Long Beach.
Crews reportedly reacted to reports of four people being seen at the river’s bank, according to officials. The Fire Department reported that one person and a dog were declared dead at the scene, while three individuals were pulled out of the water.
According to officials, one of the adults and the 4-year-old were sent to a trauma center, while another individual declined medical attention. As of Monday afternoon, it was unclear how the two being treated were doing.
It is uncertain what caused the group to tumble into the water or whether the dog’s and person’s fatalities were caused by the river’s depth or current. According to Dennis Garrett, a captain with the Long Beach Fire Department, the waterway is big and its conditions change depending on water flow and rainfall. However, he noted that there were no reports of the current rushing downstream.
According to Garrett, they moved from the left side of the river to the right side instead of heading downstream. At Anaheim, everything sort of stuck there.
They were discovered close to a low head dam. Garrett said it’s unclear if the drownings were caused in any way by the dam’s proximity.
According to the National Weather Service, these dams are referred to as “drowning machines” informally. They are made to allow water to constantly flow past the dam’s crest as they span a river from bank to bank. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, a circular flow may be produced when water levels rise downstream; if someone is in the water and crosses the dam, they may be trapped.
According to the CDC’s 2024 report, drowning deaths in the US are still on the rise.The agency advises wearing a life jacket when on a boat and practicing swimming and water safety techniques to improve water safety and reduce drowning incidents.
