Extreme drought leads to intriguing discovery at bottom of Calif. lake

Receding waters at the drought-stricken Folsom Lake in Granite Bay, Calif., on May 22, 2021, reveal a new strip of land. California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a drought emergency for most of the state. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

An underwater sonar company testing its equipment at Folsom Lake, outside Sacramento, California, made a shocking discovery one summer day: the remains of a mostly intact plane gently resting on the lakebed.

"I saw something that wasn't normal," Tyler Atkinson, a Seafloor Systems employee, told local CBS News affiliate KOVR.

After an investigation conducted by the Placer County Sheriff's Office, dive teams concluded that the plane found in June 2021 was from a 1986 crash.

A sonar equipment company, Seafloor Systems, captured this image, believed to show a plane missing since 1986. (Seafloor Systems)

At first, the Seafloor Systems employees who discovered the plane believed it matched the description of a plane that crashed on New Year's Day in 1965 with a pilot and three passengers aboard. The body of the pilot was recovered, but the three passengers were never found.

That plane remains lost, with the Placer County Sheriff's Office urging people not to look for it.

"The relatives of the deceased from the 1965 plane crash do not wish for others to search for the plane or remains," the sheriff's office said in a statement. "They would like the final resting place for their family to remain at the bottom of Folsom Lake."

The surprising discovery, made at one of the deepest parts of the lake, would not have been possible if Folsom Lake (like many other California lakes and reservoirs) was not drying out due to a persistent and dangerous drought.

Folsom Lake was at 38% of its total capacity at the time the boat was found, and other major reservoirs across California have also been at extremely low levels. Some of California's largest reservoirs, including Lake Oroville and Shasta Lake, are below their average capacity for this time of year.

In June 2021, AccuWeather National Reporter Bill Wadell reported from Lake Oroville on the worsening situation at California's second-largest reservoir and the concern taking root among residents there.

In a statement given to AccuWeather, the Placer County Sheriff's Office said the newly-discovered plane wreck will not be recovered.

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