A man and two children were rescued on flooded Oconee River after their canoe capsized

An Oconee County man and two youngsters were rescued from the Oconee River on Thursday after their canoe capsized in a flooded and dangerous current.

“They were yelling out for help and someone across the river heard them and called 911,” Oconee County Fire Chief Bruce Thaxton said Friday about the rescue that took place after nightfall.

Fire and rescue volunteers responded to the call at about 6:25 p.m. at a location south of the Barnett Shoals Road bridge.

Thaxton said the rescuers went into the location off Barnett Ridge, a street that runs into a neighborhood that borders the river.

More: Heavy rainfall dumps nearly 5 inches of rain on Athens

The man, nor his son and son’s friend, were wearing life jackets, rescuers noted in their report.

Rescuers found the trio stranded in tree and brush debris along the river’s edge, Thaxton said.

The fire and rescue members staged an area along the river and once ropes were in place they were able to get them to shore, according to Thaxton.

“The good thing is that somebody heard them calling for help, which is lucky. And we got all three out of the river safely,” he said. The adult lived in a neighborhood on the opposite side from where they were rescued. Their canoe was no where to be found, according to Thaxton.

More: Search for teens presumed drowned continues along river

Oconee County Sheriff James Hale also responded and arrived after the rescue was made.

This kind of call for help, he said, caused him to remember when two teenagers drowned in a flooded McNutt Creek in June 2018. He helped in a rescue effort that took days.

“Fire and rescue did a good job getting them out quickly,” Hale said about Thursday’s rescue.

“Lucky for them it was a Thursday night and that’s when we do our fire training. All of the volunteers were at their stations for training, so it was a quick response,” the sheriff said.

Hale said he didn’t know why the trio decided to put a canoe in the rain-swollen river impacted by almost record rainfall earlier in the week.

“I guess they didn’t grow up around rivers and water that rises like that when it rains hard. It can be very dangerous and if they don't know what they are doing, they should stay away from it,” he warned.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Oconee man, 2 youngsters rescued after canoe capsizes in flooded river