Anybody out there hear about this?

FORKS, Wash. (AP) – The rising Sol Duc River stranded two children and five adults overnight on a sand bar, Coast Guard officials said.
No injuries were reported, and the group got a fire going and had supplies of food and water, Petty Officer Robert K. Lanier in Seattle said. The children were believed to be 5 to 8 years old.
A Clallam County rapid water rescue team was set to try to get the group off the sand bar after daybreak Monday, Lanier said.
The area is about three miles north of where the Sol Duc empties into the Quillayute River in the western part of the county.
The Coast Guard was notified at 5:40 p.m. Sunday following a 911 call by someone who told sheriff’s dispatchers that eight people went onto the sand bar during a day hike.
The river rose and most felt it was too risky to go through the water again, but the caller managed to swim ashore and summon aid, Lanier said.
A Coast Guard helicopter crew from Port Angeles was unable to lower a basket for a rescue attempt because of the dense forest in the area, and the decided to wait until daylight because the group did not appear to be in imminent danger, he added.

Just watching the story on the news ... Jordan's as big of a ham as ever!

Everyone is safe and sound. We just got done having breakfast with five of the seven (two separate parties). They're actually friends / clients of ours and we picked them up from the home where the search & rescue crew dropped them off below the island.

A lesson learned here, not only for our friends who didn't realize the upstream effects of the big strorm that rolled through here ... but perhaps for the S&R crew as well.

They did not attempt a rescue last night because they did not know the logistics of where to launch / retrieve their craft and deemed the effort dangerous.

In actuality, we could have lauched a boat several hundred yards above the island they were on and taken out several hundred yards below ... there was no reason the youngsters needed to spend the night out there ... especially in light of the fact that no one really knew for sure how high the water was going to get before daylight (it peaked around 3 AM at that spot).

It's a topic that I'll bring up at our next Guides' Assoc. meeting that perhaps there should be some form of a contact list for the county crew for people that are familiar with the area to assist. Our friends attempted to ask them to call us, but the noise of the water made it impossible to communicate effectively.

The S&R crew came from Sequim and had no experience whatsoever on the Sol Duc River. Any number of guides that float that stretch on a regular basis would have been able to ferry the people to safety last night as there was ample time to lauch and ferry before darkness and even if dark, the task would have been easily accomplished as it's hardly the worst water in that stretch of river.

Anyhow everyone is safe and thanks to all inlcluding Three Rivers Resort for keeping the kids filled with an endless supply of hot chocolate this morning

Bob,
was that the Island just below sand rock?
I was the last boat thru on Sun (~4:30p) & saw a couple guys just barely making it back across (clearly they'd waded out in much lower conditions).....no one hailed us, but would really feel bad if they needed help & I was their last shot.

Yes, that was the island Initially, there were 9 people on the island and you saw the two that made it off.

Don't feel bad, apparently it was quite hard to see the others and they probably missed you as well.

It sounds as if there were several strandings in the area ... a number of people across the river at Richwine and some on the big log there as well.

Gotta watch the water

Bob & Symbiosis,

My uncle and I were the last 2 to get off of the sandbar. I helped rescue the father and son who you saw stuck in the middle of the rapid that you went down. The father wasn't wearing waders, plus they weren't working together. I waded out to help by holding onto a long alder branch. If we hadn't been there I don't think they would of made it. Sym, my uncle Clay and I were the one's that were fighting the fish when you came down.

When we got to sandrock at 10:45 a.m. we were able to walk down to the first gravel bar in only a foot of water. By the time we tried to get back at 4:00pm it was over my waist ( I am 6' 5"). The river came up in a matter of minutes. Clay fought his fish for over 40 min. before it broke him off. In that time frame it rose, and I noticed that I had to move our stuff up from getting wet. It was like someone had opened the "dam" up, instant flood. Clay and I were able to wade, not swim to shore, by heading straight up stream. We worked together, by taking turns moving. When we finally made it to shore we told them on the bar that we were going for help, and not for them to try to cross.

We got to Three River and placed a call to 911, and told them the situation, that there were 5 adults, and 2 kids stuck on the Sol Duc at the sandrock hole. We then took the La Push officer back to the sand bar, so he could assess the situation. He went back to the car to radio the info in. Then the coast guard, county sheriff, and another La Push officer showed up. Anyways , not to make a long story any longer, but they brought the helicopter, but the lady in the air didn't want to use the basket, she wanted them to use a canoe to rescue them. Yeah Right.
Like my uncle says "like an monkey f****** a football". They wasted over an hour of daylight when they should of tossed a line and pulley over to be able to send clothing and food over to them.
Bob , I agree with you. We definetly need some kind of trained individuals who know what to do in this type of situation. There was a whole lot of Red tape that needed to gone thru. They needed to get those people off the bar that night. Only 2 of them had waders on, plus the older man was wet up to his waist. hello hypothermia. Anyways, there is the correct story. If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me. morseyan@hotmail.com

Elkman

Watching the 'Duc rise is amazing if you have never seen it before, and not surprising that people got stranded if they were not aware of the potential.

We were at our favorite fishing cabin below the hatchery, and literally watched the river come up 3 or 4 feet in a couple hours, and tons of debris and trees coming down since it ws the first high water of the season. It was the first time I have actually watched it like that, and I certainly have a new found respect for the 'Duc.

-rbf

It truly was amazing to watch the River come up that fast. The weather seemed to be much nicer around Three Rivers but man was it dumping up stream.

We yarded the boat near Three Rivers and didn't think there was going to be any chance of fishing, but at 2pm the Duc was still low and clear at Leyendecker! We knew what was coming. When we left around 5pm the water had not yet begun to climb at the confluence, but at Rayonier Bridge is was blown.

It never really occured to me that we perhaps could of sent up a warning.

Well, I'm glad everyone is safe and sound now.

Yes, that "flash flood" effect was pretty interesting to watch... I drove from Sequim out to Leyendecker on Sunday afternoon, and as soon as we came around Lake Crescent it was storming pretty good. To see the Duc completely blown upstream and then get to Leyendecker and see it was still clear was really neat. The Bogey was blown out and just watching the two rivers mix together right there was cool.

After about an hour and a half, the wall of water got down to us, and the Duc went out in a matter of minutes... first thing I noticed was how the confluence line started to change... then came the tree branches and such... then the noise and the chocolate milk. Neat stuff.

-N.

I watched the same thing years ago.Pretty river down at moriarity but a wall of mud up at klohoya[spelling?].I actually stoped and got out to look,couldn't believe it.

I think they have a similiar propblem over here on the Duckabush R.About six miles up at collins camp ground the river is pretty sedate.Problem is that not a half mile down river you enter a canyon a couple feet wide in a couple of spots.Campers Ignore the signs and go rafting and loose it in the canyon.If they live they then have to get out of the canyon with out killing themselves.Last time this happened the idiot lived and got out of the canyon only to wonder around in the woods for a couple of days.He was never far from cabins or help but they couldn't find him.I work with a friend of the idiot and he called me up to help find the idiot.Search and rescue would not let me help.I know both sides of the canyon in and out.You can not move in there with out leaving strong sign.There is only a couple of spots for him to climb out of there.Any ways I could not help but think that the great people that were doing the looking realy had very little knowledge of the erea they were searching,leaving this idiot lost only a couple miles from 101 and cabins and homes all around him.