Hot weather, pandemic both factors in deadly July on Ottawa River
Posted Aug 6, 2020 02:31:00 PM.
Extremely hot weather and COVID-19 are just a couple of reasons Ottawa emergency responders believe there have been a handful of local drownings in the last month.
Chair of the Ottawa Drowning Prevention Coalition Chris Wagg says people have been isolated due to the pandemic and driven toward places to get reprieve from the heat, but beaches have been busy, so she believes some residents are trying to swim in places they aren't familiar with.
“When we're seeing a string of [days at] 45 degrees [Celsius], dehydration can lead to exhaustion. Perhaps people are indulging in alcoholic beverages and swimming after hours, where if you don't know the water, the currents can come up very quickly and take you down river and then you've lost your bearings and can't get back to shore,” explains Wagg.
Five people have drowned in the Ottawa River since the beginning of July, which, according to Wagg, is about three more than average for a summer in Ottawa. The difference is that these incidents have all been very recent and they've all been on the Ottawa River — none in backyard or public pools.
Quebec has seen a larger increase in drownings this summer, up about 20 year-over-year.
Boaters not wearing life jackets has also been an issue, says Wagg.
“We're going back to back-in-the-day when we didn't wear seatbelts [in cars] and now we all wear seatbelts. It's a known factor that seatbelts save lives and so we're trying to reinforce that life jackets are going to save your life.”
Every weekend for the rest of the summer the Ottawa Police Service's Marine, Dive and Trails Unit will be on local waterways enforcing boating laws.
The Ottawa Drowning Prevention Coalition is made up of several public groups and agencies including the Life-Saving Society, Ottawa Police, Ottawa Public Health, Ottawa Fire and Ottawa Paramedics to prevent the incidence of fatal and non-fatal drownings and other water-related injuries in the National Capital Region.
The group is meeting this week to further discuss how it can prevent any more drownings on local waterways.
