Crews Halt Recovery Efforts On Chattooga

 

 

Crews have relocated the body of the man who fell from a raft on the Chattooga two weeks ago, but the recovery effort has stalled due to mother nature.

Rabun County EMA Director Marty Dixon served as the incident commander on Monday, and he said Monday that the team located the body of Thomas Hill deep in the Sock-em Dog rapid using side scan sonar.

Unfortunately, as Tuesday’s incident commander Buck Haney explains, recovery efforts have been suspended due to high water in the Five Falls Area.

“The river depth has increased by about 3 ft. around where Mr. Hill was located yesterday, and there is no safe access from rafts or shoreline today. The boulders and bedrock that provide good anchor points are difficult or impossible to access at these levels.”

Commercial boating on the Chattooga halts when the gauge reads 2.5 or higher at the Highway 76 bridge, and that reading Tuesday morning was 2.7.