Man still missing after Wynooche boating accident

By Lisa Curdy - Daily Effort writer

An 18 - year - old Buckley man is missing and presumed drowned on the Wynooche River.

A drift boat Craig Acosta and a friend were fishing from flipped as it went over a small diversion dam Wednesday afternoon, according to the Grays Harbor Sheriff's Office.

Acosta and the boat's owner, 55 - year - old George Houser of McKenna, Wash., were drifting over a submerged spillway that is part of a City of Aberdeen system diverting industrial water to Lake Aberdeen, Undersheriff Rick Scott said today.

Suction on the downstream side tipped the 14 - foot boat, plopping both men into the water.

Houser made it to shore, went to a nearby house and phoned for help around 1:30.

Rescuers looked for the missing youth - the son of one of Houser's co - workers - until dark and resumed the search this morning.

The undersheriff said there are warning signs upstream from the dam, which is about five miles from Highway 12.

Houser "was familiar with the area, and had gone down the river in the past," Scott said.

Neither man was wearing a life jacket, but Scott said that might not have made much difference. The undertow from the dam's spillway is strong enough to keep even buoyant items caught in the turbulence.

Sheriff's deputies and a swift - water rescue unit from Fire District No. 2 covering Central Park, Brady and the Wynooche Valley, focused yesterday's search at the submerged base of the dam until daylight ran out, the undersheriff said.

"What generally happens is objects that go over (the dam) and get caught in the vortex of water are trapped at the base of it."

Because of rain overnight, conditions were more dangerous today, Scott said.

"There's 30 percent more water in the river today. The riverbanks we were standing on (yesterday) are now under water."

The turbulent flow Wednesday forced members of the swift - water rescue team to stretch a line from the east bank to the west bank, and attach a raft to that. "But there's such a huge volume of water and such a force being generated, it's difficult to maintain position," Scott said.

Scott described the dam as more of a spillway.

"It looks like there's something laying in the river that the water is going over, and there's a two - foot drop. It's a big lump in the water the width of the river."

With more rain, the dam becomes more treacherous to cross, Scott said.

"At times like this, fishermen passing through who don't have a boat motor ä will beach and exit their boat, walk around (the dam) and tie a line to the boat and pull the boat (over the dam)," the undersheriff said.

"In the summertime, people can often cross over and pass the whirlpool of suction without any problems."

Thanks for posting the article. I can't get the accident off my mind it is horrible.

I can relate to that, I lost a little sleep from it myself.

I just found out tonight when I stopped at Sportco that it was Craig, who worked the fishing counter there! He was a great fisherman and person, I'm real sorry to hear about this tragedy, he will be missed by a lot of people whose lives he has touched. Thats the 2nd boat in 2 years that I have heard of that the deversion dam got.

Peace!