SENSACIONES
5th April 2009, 19:25
Rescue divers searched on Thursday for the body of a man who drowned while working to clear a drainpipe at a flood control lake near Garrison.
The missing man, Larry Coach, operated a diving business in Dallas and was working for a local conservation agency when he disappeared below the water.
The Nacogdoches Dive Team, which is affiliated with the county sheriff's office, and the Nacogdoches Fire Department's Swift Water Rescue team joined deputies and a state game warden trying to find Coach's body.
Strong gusts of wind whipped the surface of the lake into a frenzy as divers first attempted to locate the end of the 24-inch pipe Coach had been working on. The pipe, which extends about 25 feet past the lake side and regulates the flow of water from the lake into the Attoyac River, was submerged about four feet below the surface of the lake due to recent rains. It is normally above the surface of the water.
Coach's efforts to clean debris from the pipe had apparently been frustrated earlier in the day by strong currents that pulled him into a metal grate at the mouth of the drainpipe. According to Garrison volunteer firefighters at the scene, Coach removed the metal grate to improve his access to the opening of the clogged pipe. It may have been a fatal mistake.
Tom Bush, leader of the county dive team, estimated that about 9,500 pounds of pressure pushed a fast-moving stream of water into the mouth of the pipe.
When divers first entered the water tethered by rope to a deputy's patrol car, they did not know whether Coach's body was lodged in the mouth of the pipe or had been pulled partway through the drain. To avoid being pulled into the pipe themselves, rescuers attempted to use a grappling hook to pull items out from the mouth of the pipe from the safety of two flat-bottomed boats. But the suction was too strong, and at least one rope broke as the rescuers used the boat's outboard motor to pull back on the hook. It was not clear what the grappling hook had latched on to.
The divers also used an underwater camera to explore the area around the drainpipe, but the turgid currents made visualization difficult. The searchers first found a piece of a diving suit and then identified what may be Coach's diving tank and weight belt. Coach's body had not been recovered as of press time.
Coach drove to Nacogdoches alone on Thursday using a hand drawn map that still sat, along with a change of dry clothes and a pack of cigarettes, on the seat of his GMC truck parked on the bank of the lake. On arrival, he met with Melvin Adams, a part-time employee of the Nacogdoches Soil and Water Conservation District, which had retained Coach to unclog the pipe.
After being shown the problem, Coach spent some time in the water using SCUBA equipment to explore the clogged pipe. After working for some time below water, the air bubbles from Coach's SCUBA gear stopped rising to the surface, Adams said.
"I realized there was no bubbles coming up," Adams said.
On more pleasant days, the lake, which is on private property but is overseen by the Nacogdoches District and the Natural Resource Conservation Service, is an idyllic spot for duck and deer hunting. On Thursday, however, an onlooker who did not wish to be identified, noted the pall of solemnity that befell the land.
"We are working on a hard, horrible end of a story here."
The missing man, Larry Coach, operated a diving business in Dallas and was working for a local conservation agency when he disappeared below the water.
The Nacogdoches Dive Team, which is affiliated with the county sheriff's office, and the Nacogdoches Fire Department's Swift Water Rescue team joined deputies and a state game warden trying to find Coach's body.
Strong gusts of wind whipped the surface of the lake into a frenzy as divers first attempted to locate the end of the 24-inch pipe Coach had been working on. The pipe, which extends about 25 feet past the lake side and regulates the flow of water from the lake into the Attoyac River, was submerged about four feet below the surface of the lake due to recent rains. It is normally above the surface of the water.
Coach's efforts to clean debris from the pipe had apparently been frustrated earlier in the day by strong currents that pulled him into a metal grate at the mouth of the drainpipe. According to Garrison volunteer firefighters at the scene, Coach removed the metal grate to improve his access to the opening of the clogged pipe. It may have been a fatal mistake.
Tom Bush, leader of the county dive team, estimated that about 9,500 pounds of pressure pushed a fast-moving stream of water into the mouth of the pipe.
When divers first entered the water tethered by rope to a deputy's patrol car, they did not know whether Coach's body was lodged in the mouth of the pipe or had been pulled partway through the drain. To avoid being pulled into the pipe themselves, rescuers attempted to use a grappling hook to pull items out from the mouth of the pipe from the safety of two flat-bottomed boats. But the suction was too strong, and at least one rope broke as the rescuers used the boat's outboard motor to pull back on the hook. It was not clear what the grappling hook had latched on to.
The divers also used an underwater camera to explore the area around the drainpipe, but the turgid currents made visualization difficult. The searchers first found a piece of a diving suit and then identified what may be Coach's diving tank and weight belt. Coach's body had not been recovered as of press time.
Coach drove to Nacogdoches alone on Thursday using a hand drawn map that still sat, along with a change of dry clothes and a pack of cigarettes, on the seat of his GMC truck parked on the bank of the lake. On arrival, he met with Melvin Adams, a part-time employee of the Nacogdoches Soil and Water Conservation District, which had retained Coach to unclog the pipe.
After being shown the problem, Coach spent some time in the water using SCUBA equipment to explore the clogged pipe. After working for some time below water, the air bubbles from Coach's SCUBA gear stopped rising to the surface, Adams said.
"I realized there was no bubbles coming up," Adams said.
On more pleasant days, the lake, which is on private property but is overseen by the Nacogdoches District and the Natural Resource Conservation Service, is an idyllic spot for duck and deer hunting. On Thursday, however, an onlooker who did not wish to be identified, noted the pall of solemnity that befell the land.
"We are working on a hard, horrible end of a story here."