Emergency preparedness (or lack thereof)

[Brad Johnson]

Want to know how unprepared some people are for an emergency?

I know the lake, and the spot.  Ten or fifteen feet away from shore the water may be murky, but if I was standing flat-footed on the bottom my head would be completely out of the water.  It is neither deep nor running.  Why someone wasn't able to wade out and pull the guy immediately to shore is a testament to how woefully ill-equipped people have become for dealing with emergencies.

I understand from a friend at the PD that "alcohol may have been a factor" (i.e. most of them were stumbling drunk).  I also understand that only two of a pretty large group jumped in the water to help, neither of whom were in any condition to be doing much saving.  The rest stood around screaming for someone to call 911.

Brad


From the Lubbock Avalanche Journal...

Man drowns in playa lake

A family picnic turned deadly Sunday evening when a man apparently drowned in the Canyon Lakes System.

Lubbock Fire Department dive team members pulled Robert Zuniga, 39, out of the playa lake after he had been under water for about an hour while family members held each other, screaming and sobbing.

 Zuniga jumped into the lake at the Buddy Holly Recreation Area shortly before 6:30 p.m. and was about 10 to 15 feet away from the shoreline when he went under the water and didn't come up.

"He apparently began to struggle," Lubbock Police Lt. Jon Caspell said. "He was struggling as if he was entangled on something."

Family members jumped into the lake to try to rescue Zuniga, but couldn't find him. They immediately called 911 to the park, in the 2700 block of Cesar Chavez Drive.

At least two dozen emergency and law enforcement officials responded to the scene.

The dive team searched the lake atop a boat using sonar equipment and found Zuniga within about 10 minutes, said Kelly Morman, Lubbock Fire Department battalion chief.

But it was too late.

Morman said a person can live without oxygen for about four minutes.

Zuniga was pronounced dead at the scene.

Authorities didn't know what caused Zuniga to drown or why he was swimming in the playa lake, which is a no swimming zone.

City ordinance bans all swimming in local playa lakes.

Caspell said the drowning appears accidental and police don't anticipate a criminal investigation.
 

[Manedwolf]

Ever drop something off a boat into murky water, even a large object? No matter how shallow it is, it's surprisingly hard to find. Note that even the dive team needed sonar.

[ilbob]

It is very easy to lose something even the size of a human being under murky water. There are no landmarks to go by, so it is very difficult to gauge just where the body might be, even if it is not very far away. You can be within 20 feet of something that size under water and not find it for a long time if you do not institute a proper search pattern. And that will not do the guy under water any good, since it is so time consuming.

[Brad Johnson]

Ever drop something off a boat into murky water, even a large object? No matter how shallow it is, it's surprisingly hard to find.

There is no current in the lakes, they are little more than neck deep, and there was a whole group of people who watched him go down.  Two or three people wading straight out from shore should have been able to locate him in under thirty seconds.

They mentioned he seemed like he was struggling.  Makes me wonder if there wasn't some other medical issue that's the root cause, exacerbated by excessive alcohol consumption and triggered by the intense burst of physical activity.

Brad

[Ben]

There is no current in the lakes, they are little more than neck deep, and there was a whole group of people who watched him go down.  Two or three people wading straight out from shore should have been able to locate him in under thirty seconds.

You would think, but I've been on recovery dives before for work (stuff, not people) and if things silt up, you won't see two inches in front of your face, and disorientation hits hard without using physical reference points (i.e., keeping your hands on something). And that's with Scuba gear on. I've lost stuff that was a foot in front of me for 5-10 minutes before I found it again by touch just because I let go of it.

Not saying people shouldn't have tried, but it's harder than it looks.

[crt360]

There's an official recreation area at a lake with a beach (beach lake), but it's against the law to swim there?  That sounds like a fun place.

[HankB]

What's a "playa lake" ? Something that's just there for the scenery?

[Tallpine]

It was probably the eels.  They drag people down and drown them.  Just for fun. 

That's why it was a "no swimming" area. 


Seriously, I think I would notice if I waded out there and stepped on somebody 

[Tallpine]

What's a "playa lake" ? Something that's just there for the scenery?

"playa" means "beach" in Spanish IIRC

[Brad Johnson]

The lakes are shallow natural lakes, a holdover from a long-ago ice age.  They dot the south plains like pimples on a chocoholic teenager.  They are shallow and often stagnant.  The bottoms are, for the most part, sandy gravel.  The Canyon Lakes, being park of a city park complex, get a shot of fresh water courtesy of several wells in order to keep the levels constant.  It is a "canyon" only in the sense that it's a few feet lower than the surrounding terrain.  There is no "beach" nor any designated swimming areas (no swimming at all, for that matter).  Most of them you could walk across and never get your head wet.  The shoreline slopes very gently, having, at most, no more than a foot or two drop for per ten feet of horizontal travel.  Think of them as a very shallow bowl, gently sloping at the sides.

Brad

[crt360]

There is no "beach" . . .
Brad

That's just wrong.  So you've got something called a "beach lake" with a recreational area named after Lubbock's most famous dead guy, and not only is it against the law to swim, . . there's not even a beach!