A woman was rescued Sunday after being caught in a current of the Walla Walla River.
The Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office Regional Dispatch Center received a call on Sunday, May 21 at approximately 3:30 p.m. reporting that an adult female had been swept away in the current of the Walla Walla River near Harris Park, about 14 miles southeast of Milton-Freewater.
According to a press release from the sheriff’s office, the Milton-Freewater Fire Department was dispatched and UCSO deputies responded to the area. While deputies were enroute, they received an update that the female had made it to the bank in some bushes but was still in extreme danger with the current moving very fast.
Upon arrival, a sheriff’s deputy surveyed the location of the female and the dangerous The deputy retrieved a climbing rope from his vehicle and they were able to have her secure it around her body. The deputy, Milton-Freewater Fire Department personnel and the private citizen then worked together to pull her from the water safely.
A backboard was used to secure her. Several of the rescuers then assisted with carrying her to a cot, and then she was loaded onto a LifeFlight helicopter (requested by Milton-Freewater Fire Department) which had landed at Harris Park.
An additional female, who had also gone into the water attempting to rescue her, was treated by medics on the scene.
