Tule River above Springville reopened
Access closed due to raging white water
The Tule River above Springville is once again open to swimming or other activities.
A nearly three-month closure of the river above Springville was ended today, announced Sequoia National Forest Supervisor Kevin Elliott.
At the urging of Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux, the forest service closed access to the Tule River because it had become too dangerous to even go near. The action was taken following the third person to die in the swift moving water on May 4.
The usually calm river became a raging torrent this past spring as a near-record snowpack began to melt. When two young Bakersfield women died on the same day in the river at the Stairs, officials said the flow down the river was approximately 2,500 cubic feet per second.
Capt. Kevin Kemmerling, who heads up the sheriff’s office Search and Rescue unit and is now the Porterville Substation commander, said when the first woman fell in, a second woman went into the water in an attempt to save her. She was also swept away.
Saying the water was swifter than it had been in more than six years, Kemmerling said the temperature was also just 45 degrees that day.
“Survivability was just 15 seconds,” he told the Chamber of Commerce governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday. He said he almost lost two of his team members in trying to retrieve the women’s bodies.
However, the river has returned to its normal calm self today.
“We’re back to normal. All the pools are safe,” he said after saying the closure worked. “We haven’t had any incidents.”
The closure included all access sites on the Middle Fork of the Tule River beginning at the entrance of the Giant Sequoia National Monument and extending to the Moorehouse Fish Hatchery just below Pierpoint Springs. In addition, river access was restricted on the North Fork of the Middle Fork of the Tule River to Wishon Campground. The popular Coffee Camp area, both upper and lower, were closed during the order.
Kemmerling acknowledged the closure was having an impact on some businesses in Springville and that the sheriff was confident it could be reopened. He added it appeared to have a positive impact on Success Lake where he said crowds have been good every
weekend.
“It’s time,” he said of lifting the closure.
Elliott reminds the public that safety is a shared interested for all living in and visiting the area. “Visitors should continue to use a great deal of caution while enjoying the cool temperatures of the river during the hot days to follow,” he said, noting the river is still running high, fast and cold.