BLEWBAYOU1
03-10-2005, 01:28 AM
Boater Rescued After Going Over Texas Dam.
AUSTIN, Texas (March 9) - A boater got the ride of his life when he fell overboard and was swept through a floodgate of a dam.
Authorities said the man and a female companion were boating on Lake Austin on Monday when the boat's motor quit and the current carried the boat up against the Tom Miller Dam.
A security guard atop the dam threw a rope to the woman and guided her to a rescue boat, but Dirk Hoekstra fell into the water.
''A second later is when my feet got sucked in by the water gate and that's when I went through,'' Hoekstra told CNN.
He said he managed to take a good breath before he went under.
''It was twisting me around like a rag doll and threw my arms all over the place and it just keeps flipping me from whirlpool to whirlpool,'' Hoekstra said.
He said he surfaced a quarter- to a half-mile downstream from the dam, made his way to a house on shore and called 911.
He ''is one of the luckiest persons in Austin right now,'' said Bryan Fitzpatrick of the Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services.
03-09-05 1215EST
The things peaple do to get on TV.
Brian :D
AUSTIN, Texas (March 9) - A boater got the ride of his life when he fell overboard and was swept through a floodgate of a dam.
Authorities said the man and a female companion were boating on Lake Austin on Monday when the boat's motor quit and the current carried the boat up against the Tom Miller Dam.
A security guard atop the dam threw a rope to the woman and guided her to a rescue boat, but Dirk Hoekstra fell into the water.
''A second later is when my feet got sucked in by the water gate and that's when I went through,'' Hoekstra told CNN.
He said he managed to take a good breath before he went under.
''It was twisting me around like a rag doll and threw my arms all over the place and it just keeps flipping me from whirlpool to whirlpool,'' Hoekstra said.
He said he surfaced a quarter- to a half-mile downstream from the dam, made his way to a house on shore and called 911.
He ''is one of the luckiest persons in Austin right now,'' said Bryan Fitzpatrick of the Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services.
03-09-05 1215EST
The things peaple do to get on TV.
Brian :D