Friendly reminder: Make sure to pay very close attention when boating on a lake or reservoir that has a dam. Four female passengers enjoying a summer day on a rad classic powerboat were reminded of that handy tip when they needed to be rescued from almost going over the Longhorn Dam on Lady Bird Lake near Austin, Texas, on Thursday, KXAN NBC News reported.
Austin-Travis County EMS received a call from bystanders that there was a boat about to go over the 36-foot dam. When authorities arrived, they found that an employee from the boat rental company on the lake had tied a rope to the boat. The employee, Jame Cane, tied the distressed boat to another powerboat which wasn’t strong enough to pull them away from the top, but was able to keep them from going over until help arrived. Authorities said that the boat was just over the top of the dam briefly.
Rescuers gave the passengers life vests just in case. All four were rescued with no injuries.
I’m sure like me you’re wondering how the hell a boat managed to get near the top of a dam. Apparently, the boat’s passengers just weren’t paying attention. They told Fox7 they were having a conversation with each other and didn’t notice that the boat was caught up in the current. By the time they realized what was happening it was too late. The boat’s small electric motor wasn’t strong enough to get them away from the top.
Authorities said the dam is more dangerous than people realize, especially if someone went over the top. One of the officers on the scene said “If you look on the other side of Longhorn Dam there is actually concrete on the very bottom so if you fell off you’d end up hitting concrete.”