Local News

Two people drowned early Friday morning in Tukwila after their vehicle plunged into Green River.

The King County Medical Examiner’s Office identified them as Johnetta Powell-Stewart, 35, and Conjewel M. Glover, 38.

Police found both drowned at about 1:45 a.m. near South 180th Street, not far from Southcenter Mall, according to KOMO4. Witnesses told police the car was speeding when it slammed into an embankment and then flew into the river, according to the report.

Geoffery Oberbeck (Family photo)

The man who died after nearly drowning in the Green River on Monday evening has been identified as Geoffery Oberbeck, 19, of Enumclaw, according to his mother, Melanie Schomber.

Oberbeck and his father had been swimming in eddies in a part of the river near Ravensdale when the young man swam too close to the middle of the river and was swept away by the current, according to Sgt. Cindi West of the King County Sheriff’s Office. His father tried but was unable to save him, she said.

Before bystanders in a calmer part of the river downstream could rescue Oberbeck, he had been underwater for at least seven minutes, West said. He was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center, where he died.

Oberbeck, a 2012 Enumclaw High School graduate and avid Godzilla fan, was “the best big brother ever” to two younger siblings, Frederick Schomber, 11, and Daniel Schomber, 6, his mother said. He also previously attended Kent-Meridian High School in Kent.

“I’ve seen so many accidents on the Green River, I just want to dam the thing up,” said his mother, who has lived in Kent since 1979.

No date for services has been set, Melanie Schomber said.

She said she hasn’t started the process, but would like to set up a way to fund life-jacket access near spots like Green River.

In addition to strong currents and rapids that can sweep swimmers away, West said, the water can be so cold that circulation slows to arms and legs and makes it harder for someone to swim.

Weather: Nice day yesterday, nice days in store for the rest of the week — and we couldn’t be happier. Everyone says summer begins after the Fourth of July, and that sure is holding true this go-around. Termperatures in the upper 70s and low 80s. Enjoy. The National Weather Service forecast.

Traffic: The map and cams.

Seattle doctor missing on Mount Adams: A 55-year-old doctor from Seattle is missing on Mount Adams, according to the Yakima County sheriff’s office. The doctor, whose identity hasn’t been released, was hiking with a friend Sunday when he went missing. The doctor had less hiking experience than his friend. The mountain was busy with hikers and climbers on Sunday, according to The Yakima Herald-Republic. The search for the missing man was expected to resume this morning.

Bellevue couple’s lucky landing: The couple escaped injury when the small plane they were in made  a hard landing and skidded off the runway at Hillboro Airport, a Portland suburb.

Green River near-drowning: We’re checking on the condition of the man who was swept away in the Green River yesterday. He was pulled from the river, but was unconscious and in critical condition when he was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center.

Boeing makes a big sale: The commercial aircraft leasing and financing arm of General Electric has committed to buying 75 737 MAX 8s and 25 Next-Generation 737-800s. The deal, announced at the Farnborough Airshow, is valued at around $9.2 billion at list prices — but customers rarely pay the full amount when ordering big, according to The Associated Press. Rival Airbus also announced its first big deal of the airshow: Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific has put in a firm order valued at $4.2 billion for Airbus’ long-haul A350-1000..

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2. More confident Microsoft serves up full plate of plans
3. The secret life of the moonshiners among us
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5. Mariners prospects Danny Hultzen and Taijuan Walker cross rocky paths at Futures Game

Bystanders pulled a drowning 19-year-old from Green River near Ravensdale Monday afternoon, according to Sgt.  Cindi West of the King County Sheriff’s Department. He was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition.

A father and son had been wading in calm eddies near the shore, but the son ended up swimming too close to mild rapids in the middle of the river, West said. As the current started taking him away, the father tried to save him but had to let go or he, too, could have drowned.

Further downstream another father and son were able to dive 10 feet into the river to pull the son out and perform CPR. He did not regain consciousness. Monday night, he was in very critical condition at Harborview, West said.

West said that many swimmers don’t realize that the river’s freshly snow-melted water is so cold year-round that a swimmer’s body will often concentrate its heat and circulation toward the torso, leaving arms and legs less effective while swimming. The warmest Green River’s water gets near the mountains is usually about 45 degrees, she said.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s 80, 90, 100 degrees outside, that water is cold,” West said. “This time of year, it’s unfortunate that we have these kinds of accidents.”

 UPDATE, 11:11 p.m. | The search will resume at 10 a.m. Friday, Sgt. Cindi West now says.

UPDATE, 10:48 p.m. | The search for the young woman has been called off for the night.  Sgt. Cindi West of the King County Sheriff’s Department said it will resume at noon on Friday.

Here is the account West provided for the media a short time ago:

A young man was rescued from the banks of the Green River tonight and a 22-year-old woman from Kent, who was part of a group of hikers they were with, is still missing.

The man was wet and cold when rescuers with the King County Sheriff’s Department managed to get him up the steep, slippery river bank, and he was taken to a hospital by ambulance to be treated for hypothermia.

The two were part of a group of five hikers navigating a rocky, slippery trail not far from the Green River Gorge Bridge when the woman fell into the river. The young man who was later rescued went into the river to assist her, she said.

They both got caught in the current, West said, and the young man lost his grip on the young woman and she was washed down the river.

The search for the young woman extended about a mile downstream from where she fell into the water, West said. The missing woman’s name was not provided, but West said she had a pink backpack and a green shirt.

The hope is that the young woman somehow reached the bank and is hiking in the hills, West said.

UPDATE  10 p.m. | Our reporter on the scene, Alexa Vaughn,  says somebody had been taken away in an ambulance.

UPDATE 9:24 p.m. | A man who lives nearby in the Green River Gorge Resort said he met the group of hikers. John Thompson said they arrived in a car with California license plates and parked about 1/4 mile from the Green River Gorge Bridge. There were five of them, he said, all young adults, 18 to 20 years old. The three who aren’t in difficulty have been taken from the scene.

Thompson had advised the group to stay on a main trail and they’d reach the ghost town of Franklin. He warned them, he said, to stay off the fork trails because the banks are very slippery.

The group was in a green Chevrolet Cavalier LS and the name “Fairfield” is on the car in a couple of places.

EARLIER POST | Efforts are under way to rescue a male hiker from the shore of the Green River near the Green River Gorge bridge, and the whereabouts of a woman hiker are unknown.

Details are sketchy, but Capt. Mark Konoske of the King County Sheriff’s Office said the two had been part of a group of hikers. He did not know how many there were.

Crews are going into the river to rescue the man, he said.

Earlier Sgt. Cindi West, spokeswoman for the sheriff’s department said the woman had fallen into the river, and the man had been trying to rescue her.

Media representatives are being kept away from the rescue area; we will update this post as soon as we know more.

A man and his dog were rescued from a small island early this morning after falling into the Green River while rafting last night. Officials said the man had spent the night naked after shedding his clothes to avoid hypothermia.

Members of Mountain View and Rescue and the King County Sheriff’s Office rescued the pair around 6:48 a.m. near the 12500 block of Southeast Green Valley Road. The 51-year-old man and his dachshund mix named Ozzy had been in a small, inflatable raft last night when they fell into the river. They ended up on a small island in the middle of the river and were wet and cold.

The man’s wife reported him missing around 2 this morning, but a search near his Auburn home failed to turn up any sign of him.

A couple of construction workers heard the man yelling this morning but could not get close enough to communicate with  him. The construction workers then asked a fisherman in waders to get closer to the man to see if he needed help. They immediately called 911 when they realized the man was in trouble.

The man was transported to a hospital to treat his injuries and to warm him up.

Weather: Hot. It could actually reach that 80-degree mark we’ve been talking about for several days now. (It made it to 78 degrees yesterday.) Don’t get too comfortable, though. While tomorrow and Wednesday will be in the 70s or so, temperatures are expected to drop into the 60s by Thursday, which is typical of this time of the year. Enjoy it while you can. The National Weather Service forecast.

Traffic: The map and cams.

Everett councilman’s drowning death: The tragic death of Drew Nielsen can be a warning to all that even experienced rafters can succumb to fast-moving, early season, cold river water, even when you’re wearing a life vest. There’s a mountain-climbing safety movie called, “The Mountains Don’t Care.” That can be said of rivers, too.

Are you prepared for disasters, say, oh, like the end of the world as we know it? If you ask people like Robert Sarnes, you’re probably not. Mr. Sarnes has stocked 12 cases of peas and beans, seven pounds of powdered milk, 50 pounds of flour, 50 pounds of rice, 20 pounds of frozen chicken breasts, a 4,000-watt generator and some 35 gallons of gas in containers to run a freezer. And, he packs a. 45 in a holster. Let’s say he’s prepared, for anything! See the story about “preppers”  by Seattle Times staff reporter Erik Lacitis.

Veteran pitchers’ duel: It was the Mariners’ 38-year-old Kevin Millwood on the mound versus 39-year-old Yankee hurler Andy Pettitte in the Mariners’ 6-2 win over the Yankees. Veteran, but not old.

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Everett City Councilman Drew Nielsen died Saturday in a rafting accident on the Green River.

“We’ve all lost a real, good friend and colleague,” fellow councilman Paul Roberts said today.

The Everett Herald reported that Nielsen, 61, was rafting near Black Diamond with his wife, Kim, and several friends. The raft flipped. Nielsen’s wife was able to escape, but he was not.

Roberts said Nielsen was an avid rafter, and was very safety-conscious. “He was well-equipped and took it very seriously,” Roberts said. “He was not a person that would take unnecessary risks.”

Nielsen was re-elected to his third term on the council last year, Roberts said. He was an attorney who specialized in real estate law.

He was a passionate advocate for open government and public access to shorelines, Roberts said. “Because of his real-estate background, he brought a great set of skills to the work of the community. He was a brilliant attorney.”

King County marine crews found the body of a man in the Green River Saturday evening, about three hours after the raft he was in got into trouble.

Authorities responded to reports of a raft in trouble near Kanaskat-Palmer State Park about 2:35 p.m. Saturday, said Paula Smith, a King County Sheriff’s communication supervisor.

“There were three people in the raft, and two got out when they got in trouble,” Smith said.

A King County rescue chopper spotted the overturned raft downstream about 5:15 p.m., and marine rescuers reached it 10 minutes later. The victim was found 45 minutes later.

Sheriff’s officials had no more information about the man’s identity or the precise circumstances of the accident, but said it’s easy to underestimate the rafting risks this early in the season.