A search team found the body of a four-year-old boy in a rushing California river on Monday, a day after his eight-year-old sister died when they were swept away.
Searchers in a boat spotted the boy’s body in the Kings River, about 1.75 miles (2.8 km) downstream from where he and his sister waded into the water. Fresno County Sheriff’s Office he said in a statement.
Authorities did not immediately release the children’s names or provide details about how they died.
They said the children were not wearing life jackets and had entered the water with their mother and another adult while trying to scale a specific rock. The river was off limits due to high water levels.
The Kings and San Joaquin rivers have been closed to recreational users since March 14 as severe winter storms and melting snow created high water levels and hazardous conditions, the sheriff’s department said.
“Numerous closure signs are posted along waterways informing the public of the importance of staying out of the water,” the department said.
The warm weather is melting large amounts of snowpack on the mountains that accumulated in a series of epic winter storms.
“Conditions in our waterways will only get more dangerous heading into the summer as snow melts and dams release even more water into rivers,” the sheriff’s office said. “The water remains cold, in the low 50s, the current is fast, and the trees serve as dangerous obstacles.”
Further north, authorities were investigating after a body was found Friday in Folsom Lake, northeast of Sacramento. And two people were still missing after being swept away by the American River in recent weeks, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office said.
Authorities have warned people to be careful along rivers, where high water levels and stronger flows are creating dangerous conditions.
“The heavy snowpack from last winter is melting in our rivers, and the water is colder (45F), stronger and higher; It will continue like this for at least the next month, possibly longer,” the Placer County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. last week. “Be careful with the river, this year IS different.”