Sheriff: 1 dead, 100-plus rescued from Lake Erie.

[arnisador]

Sheriff: 1 dead, 100-plus rescued from Lake Erie

More than 100 people were rescued Saturday from a miles-wide slab of ice that floated away from the Ohio shoreline of Lake Erie, authorities said.

One person died, said Ottawa County Sheriff Bob Bratton. He said 100 to 125 others were rescued by late afternoon.
[...]

Authorities said fishermen apparently used wooden pallets to create a bridge over a crack in the ice so they could go farther out on the lake. But the planks fell into the water when the ice shifted, stranding the fishermen about 1,000 yards off shore.


Ice on western sections of Lake Erie is up to 2 feet thick, National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Randel said. He said it started to crack as temperatures rose above freezing this weekend and wind gusting to 35 mph pushed on the ice.

If you have to build a bridge to get from the shore to a floating section of ice...you just might be ice-fishing polar-bear-style.

 

[arnisador]

Sheesh!

Some rescued fishermen return to Lake Erie

Many of the 134 fishermen rescued from Lake Erie ice returned to the miles-long floe Sunday using rented air boats to retrieve left-behind snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles and other equipment. A few ventured onto the risky ice to fish for walleye.

 

[MA-Caver]

Read about this... thought it was a good thing that these folks got rescued and sorry that one guy died after falling in the water... shock of water THAT cold can literally take your breath away, in this case the man had a heart attack.
Thought about all those ATV's and Snowmobiles that had to be left behind... soon to be at the bottom of the lake unless someone managed to pick them up but doesn't seem likely.
Also read where each of those folks had their names taken down so that next time they were caught out there they'd be fined.

Some folks just can't learn, so I echo Arnisador's sentiments. Sheesh!

 

[Shuto]

I was just fine. Didn't need rescuing! ;-)

 

[stickarts]

wow.

 

[Makalakumu]

When I lived in the Twin Ports, parts of Lake Superior would freeze over and about once or twice a winter, an ice sheet would break off and someone would have to be rescued. We called it "going trolling".

That many people is surprising.