With a current fueled by melting ice from the north, large debris that have traveled from as far away as Minnesota and freezing cold temperatures, chances of survival are minimal for anyone who falls into the Mighty Mississippi without a life jacket.
Not only would the victim probably not survive, but there is also a good chance their body would never be recovered.
The Reeds are one of the few families to get closure after having a loved one jump into the river without a flotation device.
Brian Reed, brother of NFL safety Ed Reed, is believed to have jumped or fallen into the Mississippi River on Jan. 7 near the St. Charles Parish-Jefferson Parish line.
Three weeks later, his body was finally recovered from the river in a joint effort between local law enforcement, non-profit search and rescue organization Texas Equusearch and professional divers with the Madcon Corporation.
Tim Miller, founder and director of Texas Equusearch, said that recovering the body was somewhat of a miracle considering the dangerous conditions of the river.
“Where (Reed) went down there was a pier there at one time that had collapsed so there was so much debris there,” Miller said. “Our worst fear was that Brian could possibly end up as one of those victims that is never found.”
In the 10 years that his company has been working to find victims, Miller has had to abort two of his four attempted Mississippi River recoveries. The recovery missions in the river failed because the current of the river and the amount of debris made it impossible to extract or find the bodies of the missing. Even when they are able to locate the body, sometimes it is not possible to retrieve it.
“During one (search) in Memphis, the current was so strong we couldn’t do anything…(the body) was gone, he was never found,” Miller said of one Mississippi River recovery attempt.
In fact, even during Reed’s recovery Miller said that the body was almost lost.
At one point as the team used divers and machinery to try to lift debris off of Reed’s body, they dislodged him and he was caught up by the current and carried 250 feet away. It took days to find the body again and restart recovery efforts.
Lt. Sandy Dares, supervisor of the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office Marine Patrol, said the public does not realize how dangerous the river can be.
“Unless you are a very, very strong swimmer or wearing a lifejacket, your chances of surviving if you fall into the river are not real good,” Dares said.
Scott Whelchel, director of Emergency Preparedness for the parish, said that because the river runs directly through St. Charles, parishioners should be aware of the extreme dangers of falling in.
“You’ve got a tremendously large volume of water traveling down that river…and the speed in which it moves makes for very dangerous currents,” Whelchel said. “Couple that with the fact that…the water gets very cold and you’ve also got a lot of debris floating around. People don’t understand the power that’s associated with the Mississippi River.
“Put those things together and it can make for a very hazardous situation.”
Dares said that people can also be pulled into the river unexpectedly and swept away. He said that people should be aware of their surroundings at all times when near the banks.
“When a ship passes, you have a big wave that can wash people from the bank,” Dares said. He added that undertow and collapsing banks can also drag people into the deeper parts of the river when they are just wading on the edges.
He also said that tides in the river are especially dangerous in the spring when they rise by 15-20 feet because of snow melting up north.
Dares said that boaters should also be wary of heading into the river because large debris, such as rocks or logs, can hit smaller boats and disable them, causing the vessel to float freely down the river and into the Gulf of Mexico.
“Every bit of St. Charles Parish is fairly close to the Mississippi River and many, many people use the river…but they need to be very cautious because it seems like every year people drown or fall in – it’s a lot more dangerous than people understand it to be,” Dares said.
For those who fall in and succumb to the river, the next battle is for law enforcement to find their body, which Dares said is never an easy task.
“In general, drowning victims don’t go very far, even in places where you have currents. When the human body has lungs full of water, it’s essentially going to drop to the bottom,” he said. “Then the Mississippi River’s strong currents move a lot of sand…you don’t realize how much it can change even overnight.
“You might have had a sandbar you could walk out on one day and then the next day there’s 20 feet of water on it.”
Dares said that the body will only float and be influenced by currents after it begins to decompose.
To donate to Texas Equusearch, visit www.texasequusearch.org.
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