ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — Temperatures are about to surge to near 90 and some people will look for a place to cool off. But swift water rescue teams say "not so fast" when heading to the river.
Standing along the Meramec River near Al Foster Park, Metro West Fire Protection District Captain Matt Coppin tells 5 On Your Side, "Our waterways right now are full. They've received a lot of rain over the last several weeks and there's going to be water in places that you may not normally see water throughout the year."
High water is often muddy water, hard to read while navigating the river and even harder or impossible to see obstacles under the surface.
"You may have an entire tree or large branches that are underneath the surface of the water," Coppin said. "So while you look across it, it may seem nice and calm and smooth, the water is moving very quickly and it hides what's below the surface."
Dangers outdoorsman Ted Bright knows all about, "Oh yeah, it definitely happens. I have a dent in the canoe from my son and his knucklehead friends getting into a predicament last summer."
Bright has a workaround to avoid those kinds of canoe-denting-life-endangering incidents, "when the rivers get up to levels like this, you're going to want to go higher upstream. They are navigable upstream because they subside a little bit quicker."
After a few mishaps, Bright recommends tying your gear down and Coppin added, "It's extremely important that when you are working or playing by the water that everyone has a life jacket on. It's a very important thing that truly saves lives."