Current grabs mom, kids swimming off Congaree Riverwalk. A hero jumped in after them
Sarah Rock thought she knew the Congaree River. She and her family had walked the Riverwalk in West Columbia before, even taken advantage of the opportunity to dip into the river.
But she saw a different side of the riverside attraction on Saturday, when she and four children got caught in a strong current that she feared would pull them under. Rock credits the quick intervention of a passerby with saving their lives.
“I want people to know he’s a hero,” she said.
Rock was walking the area around the Gervais Street bridge on Saturday afternoon with her daughter, nearly 7, and three other girls, ages 7, 10 and 11. They entered a wooded area that is about as far as Rock normally goes on the trail, but one girl said she knew a good spot to enter the water further down.
But when the group got into the water, they suddenly found themselves caught in a strong undercurrent. The 7-year-old started to panic as she struggled against the current, and Rock and another girl had to cling to a branch sticking into the water to avoid being swept along.
“I was yelling, ‘swim to the logs,’” Rock remembers. Because of the wooded location along the trail, she didn’t think anyone else could see the small group struggling in the water.
But a young man walking by heard the commotion, took off his shirt, shoes and glasses and dove in. He managed to pull two of the girls to shore, then helped Rock and the other girl off the branch to safety. Another girl managed to get back to shore on her own.
“I don’t know where he came from,” Rock said, crediting him with saving the girls’ lives. “He risked his life getting into that extreme current.”
The State spoke to the rescuer, who declined to be named publicly but confirmed the account and said he felt the same currents pulling him when he went into the water.
Such near-disasters are not that unusual in the currents where the Broad and Saluda rivers come together to form the Congaree. In the past month, the West Columbia Fire Department has conducted three water rescues, and received seven or eight calls of similar incidents where first responders did not end up having to get someone out of the river.
Deputy Chief Marquis Solomon called that a “steady” rate of calls, but not out of the ordinary given the season, when more people are heading to the river as the weather heats up.
He said there’s no telling how many incidents there are like Rock’s, where the authorities aren’t called to respond. Rock said she spoke to an officer patrolling the Riverwalk afterwards, but no report was filed with West Columbia police.
Rock said she wants to see more signs in the area warning about the dangers of going into the water at what otherwise seems like an ideal place for a dip.
“It doesn’t seem like it would be so strong,” she said.
But she’ll think twice next time, and she hopes other swimmers do the same.
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