Woman in river clings to branch with one hand while helping save others, Georgia cops say
A woman was clinging to a tree branch with one hand while helping several people stranded on a Georgia river, officials said.
The woman used her other hand to hold onto a flotation device that was somehow “connected to” five others struggling in the water on Saturday, July 30, according to the Atlanta Police Department.
Firefighters were called at about 4 p.m. to Chochise Drive Southeast, which runs along the Chattahoochee River in Atlanta. Officials said a worker from a nearby school reported that about a half-dozen people were “in distress.”
“Firefighters discovered six people in the water, with one female holding onto a limb with one hand and holding a tube connected to the remaining five victims in the other,” officers wrote in a news release. “Unsure of how long the victim could hold onto the limb, firefighters quickly navigated down the bank using a rope and suspended a pike pole for the female to grip.”
The Atlanta Fire Rescue Department sent several vehicles to the scene, where crews helped the stranded group get closer to the bank and used a ladder to get them to safety, according to an incident report. No one was injured during the ordeal.
Alyssa Richardson, a spokesperson for the department, told McClatchy News in a phone interview that she didn’t have information about why the group was in the river.
In their report, officials said rain and flooding contributed to a delay on the day of the rescue. The National Weather Service had predicted that storms could bring heavy rain, strong winds and lightning to the region.
This story was originally published August 1, 2022 at 12:44 PM.
