WLOS — Authorities are urging residents and visitors to prioritize water safety after four drowning deaths were reported across western North Carolina and Upstate South Carolina over the weekend.
As temperatures rise and more people head outside, emergency responders say they continue to see preventable tragedies in local waterways.
Among the incidents was a drowning at Hooker Falls Saturday evening in DuPont State Recreational Forest. Another occurred Saturday at Lake James near Linville Dam, where officials identified the victim as 18-year-old Austin Washington. In Anderson County, South Carolina, 29-year-old Jose Felipe Garcia drowned Sunday while swimming back to shore from an island in Lake Hartwell. In the Upstate, a 6-year-old girl drowned Sunday in a backyard pool, following a birthday party…