you just can't fix stupid

[Ulysses]

The searchers might want to check the intakes for the power plant...

[neoplacebo]

3 dead, 2 people missing after going over steep dam while tubing along North Carolina river

Three people are dead and two remain missing after five people who were tubing on a North Carolina river went over the edge of a steep dam, authorities said.

The five tubers were part of a group of nine people total who went tubing on the Dan River Wednesday evening, according to the Rockingham County Sheriff's Office....

Seriously? 9 people and not one of them googled or asked, "Does anyone know what's downstream of here?"

Balls. Those fuckers weren't tubers in the sense of floating on rubber tubes; they are tubers in the sense of a plant with a bulbous end at the bottom. Thirty some years ago me and a group of like minded degenerates used to go all day tubing on either the Nolichucky or Holston river. The Nolichuchy has some places that narrow quite a bit with big rocks and fast water; I once was thrown overtube while negotiating one of these rapids areas.....went under and hoped I wouldn't smash my head into one of the rocks.....finally came up less my sunglasses and one flip flop, but I still had my beer in my hand which was now mostly river water. Another time a group of the same renegades and scofflaws were on a lazy slow ride on the Holston river.....it was a bright Sunday morning and among us we had maybe six or seven tube riders as well as a towed array raft slap full of beer and other necessities. Well, we were all about five or six beers into the voyage when all of a sudden we came around a bend in the river and BAM! there was a gaggle of Christians standing there in the river with their clothes on. One of them was being baptized while the others signaled their approval. We observed a moment of silence and lowered our beers to half mast in a show of respect.

[Vrede too]

Balls. Those fuckers weren't tubers in the sense of floating on rubber tubes; they are tubers in the sense of a plant with a bulbous end at the bottom. Thirty some years ago me and a group of like minded degenerates used to go all day tubing on either the Nolichucky or Holston river. The Nolichuchy has some places that narrow quite a bit with big rocks and fast water; I once was thrown overtube while negotiating one of these rapids areas.....went under and hoped I wouldn't smash my head into one of the rocks.....finally came up less my sunglasses and one flip flop, but I still had my beer in my hand which was now mostly river water. Another time a group of the same renegades and scofflaws were on a lazy slow ride on the Holston river.....it was a bright Sunday morning and among us we had maybe six or seven tube riders as well as a towed array raft slap full of beer and other necessities. Well, we were all about five or six beers into the voyage when all of a sudden we came around a bend in the river and BAM! there was a gaggle of Christians standing there in the river with their clothes on. One of them was being baptized while the others signaled their approval. We observed a moment of silence and lowered our beers to half mast in a show of respect.

:angel4: Maybe y'all received some baptismal shrapnel. Praise wet Jesus.

I once got into scary trouble due to a downed log on a creek during spring flood (took us a long time to find one friend that was fine), and another time suffered near hypothermia thanks to afternoon rain (we had to bail out and send one of us hitchhiking to get the car), but I never had problems with a dam that had been in place for decades.

[neoplacebo]

Balls. Those fuckers weren't tubers in the sense of floating on rubber tubes; they are tubers in the sense of a plant with a bulbous end at the bottom. Thirty some years ago me and a group of like minded degenerates used to go all day tubing on either the Nolichucky or Holston river. The Nolichuchy has some places that narrow quite a bit with big rocks and fast water; I once was thrown overtube while negotiating one of these rapids areas.....went under and hoped I wouldn't smash my head into one of the rocks.....finally came up less my sunglasses and one flip flop, but I still had my beer in my hand which was now mostly river water. Another time a group of the same renegades and scofflaws were on a lazy slow ride on the Holston river.....it was a bright Sunday morning and among us we had maybe six or seven tube riders as well as a towed array raft slap full of beer and other necessities. Well, we were all about five or six beers into the voyage when all of a sudden we came around a bend in the river and BAM! there was a gaggle of Christians standing there in the river with their clothes on. One of them was being baptized while the others signaled their approval. We observed a moment of silence and lowered our beers to half mast in a show of respect.

:angel4: Maybe y'all received some baptismal shrapnel. Praise wet Jesus.

I once got into scary trouble due to a downed log on a creek during spring flood (took us a long time to find one friend that was fine), and another time suffered near hypothermia thanks to afternoon rain (we had to bail out and send one of us hitchhiking to get the car), but I never had problems with a dam that had been in place for decades.

It's hard to say if any of us received any tangential grace or divine intermission during that encounter, but I do recall that several cows on the left bank seemed to be paying rapt attention to the religious ceremony being conducted. None of them were eating or making any noise because I was keeping one eye on them the whole time in case of stampede. I mean, hell, a stampede would have likely played hell with our towed array of drinks and drugs and car keys.....not to mention how it would have made the Christians beat the waters in a frenzy to get away from the mayhem. I guess we were just lucky.

[Vrede too]

It's hard to say if any of us received any tangential grace or divine intermission during that encounter, but I do recall that several cows on the left bank seemed to be paying rapt attention to the religious ceremony being conducted. None of them were eating or making any noise because I was keeping one eye on them the whole time in case of stampede. I mean, hell, a stampede would have likely played hell with our towed array of drinks and drugs and car keys.....not to mention how it would have made the Christians beat the waters in a frenzy to get away from the mayhem. I guess we were just lucky blessed.

Ftfy.

[neoplacebo]

[Vrede too]

The searchers might want to check the intakes for the power plant...

. . . and the turbines.

TV news: "There are warning signs about the dam posted along the river." 3, probably 5, Darwin Awards.

[neoplacebo]

The searchers might want to check the intakes for the power plant...

. . . and the turbines.

TV news: "There are warning signs about the dam posted along the river." 3, probably 5, Darwin Awards.

I suspect the victims were distracted by their extreme allegiance to their creed......."I pledge allegiance to the Drinkin' Memorial and to the libations for which it stands. One fleeting notion, under a log, with libations and juice bars for all."

[Vrede too]

I suspect the victims were distracted by their extreme allegiance to their creed......."I pledge allegiance to the Drinkin' Memorial and to the libations for which it stands. One fleeting notion, under a log, with libations and juice bars for all."

Maybe not. More info:

Family float trip ends in tragedy after group went over North Carolina dam

... Three people, including a 14-year-old, were found dead Thursday after nine relatives on inflatable tubes in the Dan River went over the dam around nightfall Wednesday, the Rockingham County Sheriff's Office said.

Poor light may have been a factor.

Four people were rescued, and two others, Teresa Villino, 30, and Isiah Crawford, 7, remained missing, the office said....

All nine people in the group were floating on tubes that were tied together when they went over the around 8-foot-tall dam near a power plant on the Dan River in the northern part of the state, officials said.

The dam is around 8 1/2 feet tall with no water, officials said said. At the bottom of the dam, there's around 2 to 3 feet of water "just churning in a hydraulic manner," Rockingham County Emergency Services Director Rodney Cates said.

If they could even see the dam they might have thought it was harmless if they were clueless about hydraulics.

It wasn't until around 3:30 p.m. the next day when a Duke Energy employee thought there were people in trouble on the river and called 911, the sheriff’s office said. Responding rescuers saved four, including three teens, who told authorities there were others from their group who were missing.

The four pulled from the water were clinging to several tubes and were "very tired, very fatigued," Cates said.

"They had been subject to the elements for 19 hours," he said.

A 35-year-old man, an 18-year-old and two 14-year-olds were rescued. They were taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life threatening, authorities said.

Wow, 19 hours. I guess when there are 9 of you there's no thought of leaving word with others. Were they all too injured to float for help?

The three people found dead Thursday have been identified by the sheriff's office as Bridish Crawford, 27; Antonio Ramon, 30; and Sophie Wilson, 14.

Some of the family lives in the Eden area, and Page said he is not sure how familiar they were with the river. Investigators will follow up to find out how they came to be so close to the dam, which has warning signs, officials said....

Know your river or have a guide, always!

[neoplacebo]

An 8ft dam? Damn. I was envisioning something like a 150ft dam. And "churning" water is not "hydraulics." Hydraulics is the concept of fluid under pressure, which is not what we have here. "Churning" water would tend to keep one above water and push one along in the direction of the flow. I consider I would have survived this ordeal, as some evidently did. But I do feel bad that four did die in this episode.

[Vrede too]

An 8ft dam? Damn. I was envisioning something like a 150ft dam. And "churning" water is not "hydraulics." Hydraulics is the concept of fluid under pressure, which is not what we have here. "Churning" water would tend to keep one above water and push one along in the direction of the flow. I consider I would have survived this ordeal, as some evidently did. But I do feel bad that four did die in this episode.

When water flows over an obstruction - dam, rock, log, etc - the standing wave that is formed, which is actually a circular, partially upstream flow that people and objects can become trapped in, is called a 'hydraulic'. Depending on the flow volume, 8 feet or much less is plenty. Sometimes, survival requires diving beneath the hydraulic or being forced there.

So far, 3 dead with 2 missing, 4 survivors.

I see the the dead are 27, 30 and 14, in theory more fit than we are, but perhaps not.

[neoplacebo]

An 8ft dam? Damn. I was envisioning something like a 150ft dam. And "churning" water is not "hydraulics." Hydraulics is the concept of fluid under pressure, which is not what we have here. "Churning" water would tend to keep one above water and push one along in the direction of the flow. I consider I would have survived this ordeal, as some evidently did. But I do feel bad that four did die in this episode.

When water flows over an obstruction - dam, rock, log, etc - the standing wave that is formed, which is actually a circular, partially upstream flow that people and objects can become trapped in, is called a 'hydraulic'. Sometimes, survival requires diving beneath it or being forced there.

So far, 3 dead with 2 missing.

Oh. I was assuming the churning water was coming from the bottom of the dam in the way of a hydroelectric operation. But I guess an 8ft dam isn't one that generates power. I've actually never seen a dam in which water overflows the top of the dam. The only ones in my local area are Boone and Patrick Henry dams, neither of which one is likely to survive a trip over the top of. These dams have flood gates and discharge tunnels to allow water to escape to the other side of the dam. If one were to be in a tube or just swimming on the lake side of either of these dams, one would be subject to being sucked under should any gates or flow tunnels be open.....like being sucked down a big bathtub drain. But I think that if one were on a tube on the other side of the dam, one would be pushed along with the flow of the water being released. I guess this dam business has me confused.

[Ulysses]

AFAIK, not a whole lot of tubing in rivers here in Cali.

Perhaps because where the rivers flow fast, it's (or used to be) from snow/ice melt and that water is COLD. When what's left of the rivers after the hydro dams and agricultural vampires get their share, is generally in the flats and not fast moving enough to excite young tubers. I do recall at one time enjoying some paddling around in the Russian River, in the quiet spots by the resorts.

Still looking for my photos of the vernal pools along the upper reaches of the Tuolumne. Might be harder to find because for a while all I shot was 35mm color slides. Harder to scrutinize. I did find the book with all the slides, tho.

[Vrede too]

Oh. I was assuming the churning water was coming from the bottom of the dam in the way of a hydroelectric operation. But I guess an 8ft dam isn't one that generates power. I've actually never seen a dam in which water overflows the top of the dam. The only ones in my local area are Boone and Patrick Henry dams, neither of which one is likely to survive a trip over the top of. These dams have flood gates and discharge tunnels to allow water to escape to the other side of the dam. If one were to be in a tube or just swimming on the lake side of either of these dams, one would be subject to being sucked under should any gates or flow tunnels be open.....like being sucked down a big bathtub drain. But I think that if one were on a tube on the other side of the dam, one would be pushed along with the flow of the water being released. I guess this dam business has me confused.

The article mentioned both a power plant, and water (and tubers) going over top of the damn Dan dam. I THINK this may be common for small scale dams.


https://globalnews.ca/news/7962033/tubi ... dam-river/

It's deceptive right there at the face of the dam. It's not just a chaotic churn. It's a permanent vertical circle of water. Hence, those tubes have been kept in place for 20 hours or much longer.


https://www.wfmynews2.com/article/news/ ... 0518b1d219

[O Really]

I'm not a fan of tubing. Sitting with my ass in cold water for a couple of hours isn't my idea of an ideal afternoon. Spending the same time in a kayak or raft, however, is a great way to enjoy a summer day. Which is what we're doing today, on a raft trip down the Wind River Canyon.

[Vrede too]

Tubing isn't meant to be very exciting due to the lack of control and possibility of puncture. It will be found on any stream that isn't too rough or too cold. Maybe that does mean post-dam and/or SoCal. I never tried it when I lived there.

I'm not a fan of tubing. Sitting with my ass in cold water for a couple of hours isn't my idea of an ideal afternoon. Spending the same time in a kayak or raft, however, is a great way to enjoy a summer day. Which is what we're doing today, on a raft trip down the Wind River Canyon.

Don't be a river snob. It's low cost, low hassle fun if you've got the right:

size tube
air and water temp
stream
setting
company
libation
lack of deadly dam
absence of alligators

[neoplacebo]

That photo showing the tubes sure looks like more than an eight foot drop to me.

[O Really]

Sure, but in a kayak, the water temp doesn't matter much, and you don't care if there are alligators - mostly. Lady O and I were paddling in the Okeefenokee and went up a trib stream that got more and more narrow, with more and more 'gators. When the 'gators got to be the size of our 'yaks we decided maybe we were better off somewhere else. It's not the ones you can see on the bank you worry about - it's the ones in the water you can't see.

[Vrede too]

I doubt anyone tubes where there are or might be gators. I sure wouldn't. Even the small ones might go for dangling fingers or toes.

That photo showing the tubes sure looks like more than an eight foot drop to me.

Truck tires are best. So, figure 3' or more across. Then, we don't know the water depth and 8' looks about right to me. It doesn't seem like it would be a fact that they would get wrong.

[neoplacebo]

I doubt anyone tubes where there are or might be gators. I sure wouldn't. Even the small ones might go for dangling fingers or toes.

That photo showing the tubes sure looks like more than an eight foot drop to me.

Truck tires are best. So, figure 3' or more across. Then, we don't know the water depth and 8' looks about right to me. It doesn't seem like it would be a fact that they would get wrong.

The story I read about it said the water depth on the other side of the dam was two or three feet. Because of that, and the alleged 8 foot drop, I can maybe see one person dying from it but not three. But I guess they could have all gone over separately and some fell on top of the ones who went first. The photo with the tubes seems to show that the area just in front of the dam appears to be a flat concrete pad, which makes sense because eventually the overflow would begin to erode the base of the dam. The whole thing is stranger than trump uttering something that's true.