8-year-old girl, 4-year-old boy die after being swept away in Central California river
The bodies of both children that went missing in the swollen and rapidly flowing Kings River over the weekend have now been recovered, authorities said on Monday.
Deputies responded around 2 p.m. Sunday following a report of an 8-year-old girl and 4-year-old boy missing in the Kings River near Pine Flat Dam, according to the Fresno County Sheriff's Office.
About an hour later, deputies found the body of the little girl, officials said. They did not immediately say how the child died.
Monday morning, the sheriff's office announced that the body of the boy was spotted underneath the water against a tree. Crews were deployed and recovered the boy's body. Officials had made the river off-limits due to high water levels.
The girl was found about 1/5 of a mile down from where she went in the water, the sheriff's office said, and the boy was about 1.75 miles downstream.
Further north, authorities were investigating after a body was found Friday in Folsom Lake northeast of Sacramento. And two people remained missing after being swept away by the American River in recent weeks, the Placer County Sheriff's Office said.
Authorities have warned people to exercise caution along rivers where high water levels and stronger flows are creating dangerous conditions.
"Last winter's heavy snowpack is melting down into our rivers, and the water is colder (45 degrees), stronger and higher — it will remain that way for at least the next month, possibly longer," the Placer County Sheriff's Office said in a statement last week. "Be river-wise, this year IS different."