Family Rescued on the Chattooga

By Dick Mangrum, WGOG, Walhalla

 

A family of three is being credited with taking action Saturday night on the Chattooga River that not only helped protect them from the elements but helped facilitate the search that led to their being found

Even though they were cold, wet, tired and hungry, Deputy Rescue Chief for Oconee County Adam Williams, the members of the Riley family of Aiken, SC, emerged without any injuries.

The Rileys were rafting Section Two Saturday night, but lost the use of one of their two rafts and decided to call it a day when darkness set in. According to Williams, the family made deflated one of the rafts and used it for shelter and as a blanket to stay warm.

By staying on the river shore, the family was found when rescuers began sending rafters down the Chattooga on Sunday to search from the river, and flying the Sheriff’s Department’s helicopter overhead to search from above.