Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Ready to unpack the powerful stories of a Texas titan - the Brazos River? Listen as experts explain the Brazos River Basin's immense role in our daily lives. They'll cover everything from the river's fascinating history to all the work that goes into ensuring you have water when you turn on your faucet.
Hear invaluable insights on topics like why lake levels change, the important projects safeguarding our water, the many species that call the Brazos home, and even some tips for enjoying the water from Brazos River Authority experts.
This is your chance to understand the immense work that goes into developing, managing, and protecting the Brazos River Basin, which stretches from the Texas-New Mexico border to the Gulf. (The basin is the size of Tennessee, y’all, it’s big.)
It’s a huge part of our state’s story and we can’t wait to share it with you.
Clay Sellers: Got questions about the Brazos? No more unknowns. Ever wonder where that water comes from or where it goes? We're Unpacking the Brazos River.
Charlie L Shugart: You hit the water, and everything goes white hot cold. It's like someone punched the air right out of your lungs. You try to snatch your breath, but you can't. Instead, your chest is heaving. You're gasping uncontrollably, and suddenly, the calm, familiar lake you were just admiring becomes a screaming, terrifying enemy.
Cold water shock can cause a sudden gut-wrenching reaction that scrambles your thinking and decision-making, and it happens so much faster than most people think. Many people assume that they have time if they fall into the water. So if a life jacket is the only thing that buys back those precious minutes, why, given the stakes, do so many of us leave it stashed under a seat like a forgotten bag of chips?
And look, we are in Texas, right? Land of a 100-degree streaks, where we're more familiar with heat strokes and dehydration. And yet, according to the National Weather Service, cold water shock can be just as severe and dangerous as a water temperature of 50 to 60 degrees as it is when the water is near freezing.
Stay with us. The water's fine until it isn't.
I'm Charlie Shugart, and I'm with the BRA's public information office. Joining us today are Dylan Mayfield and Kyle Lewis out of the Brazos River Authority's Lake Granbury office. Dylan, Kyle, thanks for taking the time to join us.
Kyle Lewis: Thanks for having us.
Dylan Mayfield: Thank you for having us.
Charlie L Shugart: Dylan, before we get into the weeds, tell us a little bit about your history with the BRA.
Dylan Mayfield: So, I came to the BRA on November 18 of last year, so coming up on my one year, actually, next week.
Charlie L Shugart: Nice.
Dylan Mayfield: Part of that was fifteen years with the US Army Corps of Engineers, all in the Fort Worth District. So, I've been around lakes for, you know, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen years.
Charlie L Shugart: Alright. Kyle, balls in your court. Tell us a little bit about your history with the BRA.
Kyle Lewis: February would be my twenty-third year here.
Charlie L Shugart: Oh, congratulations.
Kyle Lewis: All at Lake Granbury. Been in everything from law enforcement to permitting, inspecting, to environmental enforcement, to project management, and assistant reservoir manager now. So just kinda seen a lot of water go through the dam in the last twenty, twenty-two, nearly twenty-three years.
Charlie L Shugart: Yeah. I bet. And done a little bit of everything along the way.
Kyle Lewis: A little bit of everything.
Charlie L Shugart: For those who have never heard of Lake Granbury, tell everyone a little bit about it.
Kyle Lewis: Lake Granbury, we are located about 40 minutes Southwest of Fort Worth, in Hood County. We go partly into Parker County. We're a water supply reservoir. We're about 8,600-8,700 surface acres. It's just a really neat place. It's a town that stays busy all the time with activities. Fishing is always good. We have lots of tournaments. Almost probably almost every weekend has a bass tournament of some kind at the lake.
Charlie L Shugart: I was gonna say, what is the most popular thing to fish for out of Granbury? Like, what's good out there?
Kyle Lewis: Bass fishing has been great. I know there's been actually some TV shows filmed the last couple years for crappie fish and all that at Granbury. Crappies kinda came back pretty strong. Strippers and hybrid always pretty hot topic out there. Just a good little spot.
Charlie L Shugart: Yeah. Okay.
Dylan Mayfield: We have a lot of short-term rentals out there that draw a lot of people, vacationers.
In fact, on my way in, there was probably a tournament going on. A lot of boats headed to the lake.
Kyle Lewis: Yeah. Exactly. So we have a lot of full-time residents, but some of the other lakes aren't. They're more of a weekend lakes.
We got lots of full-time folks on the lake, which is good for the lake because we've got eyes that help us with a limited number of staff that help us kinda watch different things. It's a good community base that really supports the lake, and they take pride in their lake.
Charlie L Shugart: I love that. How old is Lake Granbury now?
Kyle Lewis: Impounded in 1969, so it's getting on up. Not quite Social Security level, but we're getting there.
Charlie L Shugart: Alright. So, when people are out there on the water, they often feel like they're in this bubble of safety.
Dylan Mayfield: Mhmm.
Charlie L Shugart: How common is drowning when we're talking about this? What are we talking about?
Dylan Mayfield: There are a lot of people, a lot of misconceptions, I would say, that, you know, if I can swim in a pool, you can see the bottom. You know, in lakes there are underground, underwater hazards, you know, where it stumps. So a lot of people jump in, and there are stumps on the surface they don't see. That could be old, you know, hazard as far as old trot lines that you caught up in. Just lots of shelves where you walking out and you see, you know, you're waist deep and all of a sudden there's a hole and you just slip off and a lot of times you panic.
And so, there's a lot of hazards and, you know, as the lake kinda gets cooler, I mean, hypothermia can set in really fast and panic and all that stuff. I've worked numerous drownings where, you know, you're twenty, thirty feet from the shoreline and it's really unbelievable. After the fact, it's like, does this even happen? But it does happen, unfortunately.
Kyle Lewis: Drowning is not like you see on television.
Charlie L Shugart: What do you mean by that?
Kyle Lewis: On television, you see them, they'll be underwater, and they'll come up in one, and they'll be back down, they'll come back up. It is not that way. It is sudden, and it is silent. It can happen in mere seconds. TV made it where you're splashing in and carrying on.
I mean, it does some of that initially, but true drowning is sudden and silent. And it can happen just within a second.
Charlie L Shugart: Yeah. So, I read some just crazy statistics. There is an average of ten fatal drownings a day in the US, according to the National Drowning Prevention Alliance. And for every fatal drowning, there are another five to ten people treated in hospitals due to nonfatal drowning injuries. Also, about twenty-three percent of child drownings happened during a family gathering near a pool.
In 2024, a hundred and three kids drowned in Texas. Fifty-three of those were either in a backyard pool or a community pool, according to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
Kyle Lewis: People gotta understand, Lake Granbury, it's a river. It's a dammed-up river. You don't know what's under the water. I talk to school kids every year, and we tell them part of our little safety deal is look before you leap. And before jumping into a pool or something like that, you gotta look before you jump in.
But in a lake, we tell them that, you don't ever just want to just jump into a lake because you don't know, it being a flowing active river, you don't know if something, maybe an area that you swam in two weeks ago, after a rain event, there may be a log that got washed in that is now in that area where you jumped in before. There may be a washed-out area from the recent inflow that exposed a big rock. Water depths are constantly changing from erosion, you dig out a spot here and you'll add something here.
You may jump in, it may not be where it was four feet deep, it may not even be a foot deep. So, if you look before you leap into a pool, you don't wanna land on somebody already swimming in that area, but in a lake, don't leap. You wade in, you walk in, you go in slow.
Dylan Mayfield: Between, you know, a couple of 100 yards apart, there might be a twenty, thirty-foot depth difference. So, there are areas where you would think, okay, it's really deep over there, but it's really shallow. And there are times where the water is more clear than usual, but, you know, really encourage people to use those boat ladders to ease into the water and just wade in from different docks and things like that. Wade in and ease in there.
Kyle Lewis: And even if you can swim, you can have swim lessons, you can be an Olympic swimmer. If you're in a lake, you really need to be wearing a life jacket because you don't know what could hang your foot underwater. Life jackets work.
Dylan Mayfield: I always challenge them, what if you're unconscious? Can you swim then? You know, I've worked a number of boating accidents where people become incapacitated, you know, unconscious, and if you don't have a life jacket on, I mean, it can be catastrophic.
Kyle Lewis: When you get thrown out of something like that, if, say, you're boating down a lake or even jet skiing down a lake, you possibly could hit your head on something, and that's a very, very good point. Can you swim unconscious? No. Not very well.
Dylan Mayfield: If you're headed out on a boat or, you know, swim beach or anything like that, we provide life jackets. We give away tons of life jackets. So, if you need a life jacket, please reach out to us. We will definitely furnish those at any age and any size. But we just want people to be prepared, conscious of water safety, and the hazards that it has.
There are just a lot of areas where misconceptions, you know, you could be at a busy swim beach, and there's no way anybody can drown. But if there's not a dedicated person that's watching each individual, I mean, you have hundreds of kids out there. I've worked accidents where kids drown in the swim beach where there are so many different adults around that there's just no way it could ever happen, but it does, unfortunately.
Kyle Lewis: Same has happened on Granbury, unfortunately, several times. Every year, we give away hundreds of our water watcher tags, and we tell parents all the time, you're at the lake, you're at a swimming pool, at the house, you have one person who is dedicated to watching the kids. You're not on your phone. You're not in conversations, you're not reading a book. Fifteen minutes, you're constantly watching little heads in the water. After 15 minutes, you swap off with another adult, and you can go relax. You can go visit. You can do whatever. You got another adult watching. And I mean, fifteen minutes. Come on. You're not sitting there with, I always call it the Palm Devil, your phone. You're not sitting there on the Palm Devil, sitting there playing, reading email, and Facebook or whatever. You're watching kids.
I mean, we can get into a whole debate on swim lessons. You go to a swim lesson for four days a week, it is so much more involved than that. There are so many more levels of swimming competency. I mean, swim lessons are important. Swim lessons decrease the chance of drowning by, I think, sixty, seventy percent.
But having that confidence and continuing with swim lessons, just if you do swim lessons one summer, do a second level the next summer. Get with a licensed swim coach or someone who is actually certified to teach swimming lessons and do that next level.
They learn if they get in trouble, they get tired, they learn how to float on their back. They teach them it helps them be calm. Okay. I'm in trouble. I'm getting tired. I can roll over, and how to float. It's so crucial, and there are so many more stages and steps of it.
Charlie L Shugart: If you reach out to your local Red Cross office or YMCA, a lot of times they offer swimming lessons or can direct you toward swimming lessons in your community and your area.
Kyle Lewis: Absolutely. So a lot of people don't think water safety in the winter months. I was a kid once, believe it or not. You get a bunch of cousins together and brothers and sisters, you're gonna be playing tag and running or whatever. Somebody stumbles and falls in. Tips I would tell folks who have a swimming pool with fences: Lock your pool gate. If you have a fence going out to your dock, lock that. Make sure that they can't get out on that dock. You're not thinking water. The kids are thinking, man, we had a lot of fun out there last year. They may go crawl in the boat. They may go stand up in the boat that's in a slip or something, and thought of something like that, but keep it covered.
If you have a pool cover, keep your pool covers on. But the main thing is, if you have gates, lock the gate. It's just keeps them from getting too close to that water, where something can just, just innocent fun holiday turn into a tragedy, just in a split second, just for somebody running and stumbling, and or throwing a ball. He just needs the water leaned over, trying to grab the ball out of the water and then and then get over balance and fall in.
Dylan Mayfield: I would say that, through this time of year, most people never intend to be in the water. They just end up in the water by misstepping or whatever.
So I would say if you have a dock, you know, think about installing a permanent ladder so people get in and out quicker, or if you have to rescue somebody getting in and out. They make these throw bags where you can throw a rope out to somebody or throw rings, anything like that that you can have on the dock that's readily accessible. If you really hit the water this time of year, I mean, it can bring your body temperature way down really fast.
Charlie L Shugart: Yeah. The National Weather Service says that body heat can be lost 20 times faster in cold water than if you were just standing out in cold air. And it's really important to remember that you should dress for the water temperature, not the air temperature. That beautiful 60-degree day can give a, I guess, a false sense of security. Just because the weather is nice doesn't mean the lake got the memo and will be warm enough to prevent cold water shock.
Always, always check the water temperature if you can.
Dylan Mayfield: It's way colder than you think. I don't know what it is right now, but it would not feel too good to get in the water right now. Some of these guys fishing and things like that. I mean, most of the time they, a lot of the tournaments require you to wear an inflatable life jacket just in case you do fall in. But this time of year is kind of one of those, I would say, key times of the year to just be aware of that.
If you fall in the water, have a way to warm up, get out of it. A lot of duck hunters this time of year, you know, they have waders on, they have all this gear on, they're headed out, you know, two, three in the morning to go find the perfect spot to duck hunt, to claim their spot. With all that gear, if you do fall in, you have waders, those waders fill up. So, a life jacket is important. It's gonna be hard to get back in the boat. Have a contingency plan.
What I would recommend is to think through those different scenarios. A lot of these areas where we have duck hunters. I mean, it might be a little bit more rural. I would say cell service is getting better, but might have, you know, hey, if I don't check in after this time or you don't hear from me, you know, send somebody. There's a thing called a float plan where, hey, I'm headed from, you know, this place and this boat at this time. I'm gonna stay for this long. This is when you anticipate me coming back. So, they'll come look for you.
Charlie L Shugart: Yeah. So someone's not waiting hours or days to hear from you again.
Kyle Lewis: Absolutely. Like I say, make sure you wear your life jacket outside your coat, especially if it's an inflatable life jacket. You don't want your inflatable life jacket inside a coat zipped up because it can't expand and actually work. So, make sure if you�re using the inflatable type of life jacket, put it on the outside of your clothes. That way, it can expand and do its job and keep you safe. I mean, a lot of hunting gear, not may or may, or they call it a float coat. It's actually a coat. We use them for our lake rangers in the wintertime. It's a heavy coat that's made into a life jacket. They're amazingly warm too. They float you.
Dylan Mayfield: And I would say, if you're primarily a duck hunter, you know, hunting out of a boat and not typically out during the summer months, but just inspect those life jackets. Make sure there are no rips. A lot of those, you know, older life jackets ride in some type of, you know, hatch in the boat, and they're muddy, and they're just disgusting, and a lot of those times they're not serviceable. So just making sure we're pulling those out, letting them dry out, and inspecting them. You know, if you bring in some other guys on the boat, making sure they're wearing life jackets, they know where all the, you know, the required safety gear is on the boat.
A lot of those boats are smaller boats as well, so they're easy to tip, easier to get stuck, all that stuff. So just be aware.
Charlie L Shugart: Well, speaking of life jackets, can you just walk into the store and buy anything that you see off the shelf? Is that okay?
Kyle Lewis: The main thing is to make sure your life jacket is US Coast Guard-approved.
Charlie L Shugart: Oh, okay.
Kyle Lewis: They're all weight-rated, from infants, child, youth, and adult. Adult sizes will have actually chest sizes inside of them. So, the main thing is to make sure it's a good Coast Guard-approved life jacket.
Dylan Mayfield: What's the intended use? A lot of these Coast Guard life jackets, they're rated for a specific mile per hour. So, if you're tubing, you have to have a rated life jacket for those activities, water skiing, anything like that, wakeboarding, wake surfing. You know, just going down. There's a lot of literature and a lot of websites, but I think we even actually have some videos that show you how to be properly fitted.
Make sure once you get wet that it doesn't rise above, you know, the shoulders. Just be aware that there are so many different options. There are so many different, you know, price ranges, all that type of stuff. If it's something you'd be wearing every day with fishing or if it's a work vest. There are a lot of work vests that are, you know, certified for welding and electrical work and all that kind of stuff. There's lot of special use work life jackets out there as well.
Kyle Lewis: Absolutely. They're even putting more emphasis on the impact rating code. Jet skis are so much faster, and riding a tube is so much, and wake well, work weightboats, some of them go kinda slow, but till you gotta make sure the impact's rated to protect you in cold water or warm water.
Charlie L Shugart: Imagine it's easier to feel if a life jacket fits you properly versus trying to see if it fits your kid properly? Is there anything you can do to like help ensure that that's like the right fit?
Kyle Lewis: Well, I tell parents a lot of the time that if they complain that it's too tight, it's usually probably about right. When you put your thumbs under the shoulder strap, you don't want it to come above the earlobe. You wanna make sure it stays down.
Charlie L Shugart: Okay. So, you loop your thumbs under it and then
Kyle Lewis: Yeah. Just try to raise it and make sure it's good and snugged. I tell a lot of parents a lot of times, once your kid's been in the water five or ten minutes, pull them out, recheck it. Sometimes the straps will stretch.
Sometimes it'll do something that'll become a little bit more loose. So readjust, recinch, remake sure it's still good and snug.
Charlie L Shugart: So let's say somebody is out there playing on the dock or on the water, and their friend or family member falls in?
Dylan Mayfield: If they fall in, I would say first thing just call 911. This time of year because the water temperature and everything, they're gonna need to be checked out. So that's first. Depending on how far they are, a person that has fallen in, they can't touch the bottom, they're in full panic mode. If you jump in, they're gonna try to climb you. Unintentionally, they could possibly drown you.
So if you have something that you can reach out, you know, a fishing pole, a paddle, an oar, anything like that, to, hey, grab hold of this and pull them in is probably safer. If you have a rope, ski rope, anything that where you could throw out there to them, anything that floats, throw them a life jacket and say, hey, just hold on to this. Then once they settle down, they're not in panic mode, maybe go out there and rescue them. I've worked several drownings where the person who was in the water first ended up drowning the next person in panic mode, just trying to climb them unintentionally, or they both drowned. So that shock of that initial water hitting your skin, it kinda puts you into shock so you're not thinking clearly.
So if you're playing around the water or anything like that, maybe put things out. You know, if you've got family around, you know, think of putting life jackets out there just as a contingency and be better prepared.
Kyle Lewis: We teach reach, throw, go.
Charlie L Shugart: Reach, throw, go.
Kyle Lewis: Reach something out to them that's not your hand. I'll do a demonstration with the kids, like a school on a stage, where you put a friend in the water who needs help. You reach your hand out. They're bigger than you. You're not balanced. They're gonna pull you in. So reach. Have something in your hand. Reach something to them. Throw something to them. And then if all else fails, then you go for help. But then with the kids were telling them, okay, remember the first thing you do, you wanna go to the lake. One, you ask permission. Two, you make an adult go with you, so going for help can be quick.
And adults come see what's going on, but I would teach reach, throw, and go. Just a quick little reminder. But, yeah, always, always have something in your hand to reach to them because somebody in a panic like Dylan said, somebody in a panic mode, they're already not thinking straight. The cold water shock, I've read some notes the other day that gagging for breath and rapid breathing from sudden immersion can be triggered in water temperatures warm as 77 degrees. Had the shock and the panic of the cold blast, they're gonna hit it quick. Think ahead of these scenarios before the holidays come up. Like, say, between the pool gate closed, okay, to you don't have the fence at the water, have something thinking ahead. I mean, something that you don't wanna think about bad things happening, that you wanna be conscious enough and thinking far enough ahead that will help prevent something bad from happening.
Charlie L Shugart: Yeah. If you do it in advance of family or friends coming over, then you're not chancing getting distracted while everyone's coming over from doing those things.
Dylan Mayfield: And it can be like a temporary ladder. You know, a lot of these retaining walls are pretty tall, so trying to get someone back up, you know, could have a way of temporary ladder. Just some type of contingency, even being on the lake. You never know when a boat breaks down, they drift into your dock, and maybe you're not prepared because you're, you know, you don't have anybody there, but you might be called in to, you know, help rescue someone. So just any different scenario that you could think of, to, you know, prolong you know, benefit anyone around the lake.
Charlie L Shugart: Yeah. So with colder water, what's the difference between falling in when the water's cold like that versus maybe during the summer?
Kyle Lewis: Cold shock can be severe, dangerous water 50 to 60 degrees. So, it starts affecting your cognitive impairment. You're not thinking clearly, the panic.
Dylan Mayfield: Heart rate.
Kyle Lewis: Your heart rate, physical incapacitation, your muscles are starting to clamp up. So your ability to actually if you you can swim, but if you have that cramp, then it's gonna start affecting your ability to move. Physical limitations are gonna start, you know, loose feeling in your hand and your fingers. And as I said, the onset of hypothermia occurs when your body's core temperature drops below 95 degrees; you stop thinking about your normal body temperature, 98.6. Hypothermia can start when you drop below 95.
It's not a very big point spread.
Charlie L Shugart: Right.
Dylan Mayfield: Adrenaline, your heart's pumping, but, yeah, you're inhaling water potentially. I mean, all that kind of stuff depends on, you know, the overall health of the person that falls in and how long they can tread water, and different things like that.
Charlie L Shugart: Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Plenty of people, you know, find life jackets cumbersome or hot or annoying. What do you tell people who say, you know, I'll just keep it under the seat. I'll have time to grab it if something happens.
Kyle Lewis: State law says a child 12 and under must have it on if they're in a boat, if that boat is not tied to a dock or an anchor. And we see a lot of people that'll be fishing, they'll have a child in the second back seat of the of the boat fishing, and you're patrolling along, even if your boat's under a pound with a trolling motor, a child 12 and under must have a life jacket on. So just the comfort level of the adult and their abilities, I mean, under a seat, I would at least want it either sitting on it or holding it or have it with an armrest in a seat somewhere beside you.
Charlie L Shugart: Not tucked away.
Kyle Lewis: Not tucked away.
Dylan Mayfield: Readily accessible.
Kyle Lewis: Readily accessible is the kind of rule. Unfortunately, we catch a lot of people on the lakes when we do water safety checks. They'll have their life jackets all in a zipped up bag in the back of the boat by the engine compartment. In fact, where's a fire gonna start in the boat? They will start by the engine. What's gonna be the first thing that burns up? Your life jacket. So, not a great place to store them. Check your life jacket every year before you start the summer.
Because if your boats are stored in storage departments in the boat, make sure there's no water in there that's getting them molded. Make sure when you check your straps, there's no rips or tears, or I mean, pull on them. I mean, they gotta be pretty rugged. So, pull your strap, check your buckles, check your zippers, make sure all that stuff's gonna work. Make sure no little small tears or rips or mold on the jacket like that if they've been in a boat compartment all winter. So the jacket has to be serviceable before it's effective. One, for your safety and your guests or your kids' safety, and two, by state law.
Charlie L Shugart: Is there a standard shelf life for life jackets, or does that just largely depend on use and the type?
Dylan Mayfield: Yeah. I would say how they're stored is probably one of the more important things. I mean, if they're in a cool, dry environment, they'll last longer. I've heard it before, where the actual print on the life jacket that says US Coast Guard, if you cannot read it anymore, then it's probably degraded past its useful life.
If it has any rips or tears or if one of the buckles is broken, you can't replace that buckle. It's totally unserviceable. Cut it up. So, if when you throw it in the trash, someone finds it, that they don't try to use it. Over the last, you know, twenty, thirty years, life jackets have become less cumbersome.
They're a lot more comfortable. I would invest, especially with kids. I mean, my daughters hate to wear them. But if you can invest a little bit more money in the more comfortable ones, they're more apt to wear them in situations where it's not a knockout drag out fight trying to get them to wear a life jacket.
A lot of the cheaper ones with the straps that especially go between the legs, they can be very uncomfortable. So, you're trusting this device for your life safety. I wouldn't put a number on that.
Charlie L Shugart: Yeah. Absolutely.
Kyle Lewis: Worst thing to do with a life jacket that you've been in all day on the lake, put it back in a closed compartment in the boat. When the boat stays there all week in the heat, the mold, the mildews gonna build up on it. I always try to air your life jackets out. Like to hang them in the garage, hang them on the back porch, let them get aired out good and dried before you storm land a boat.
Charlie L Shugart: Yeah. No. That's a good tip. If someone has fallen into the cold water on the lake or in the river, once you get them out, you've already called 911. Is there anything you can do while you wait for emergency services to arrive?
Dylan Mayfield: Whatever clothes they have on, I'd probably get them off, get warm blankets, anything that you can do to warm up that core body temperature, bring them inside, you know, bring them by a fire, anything that to kinda, you know, bring feeling back to their extremities and things like that.
Kyle Lewis: Some kind of warm beverage, warm tea, something like that. Don't use alcohol. Everybody says, Get a little shot of whiskey to warm your body up. That's a false warm. That's not good at all. And you sure don't wanna give it to your kid. If you're gonna be out in the wintertime, plan ahead. What if I do get wet? Have a dry change of clothes in your truck. Have a blanket in your truck. When you get back there, you can get dry. You can get warm quickly.
Dylan Mayfield: Flare matches. Anything like that. If you can get to land, build a fire to warm up.
Kyle Lewis: Be thinking about the worst when you're trying to have your best fun. If you go prepared, you won't need it. When you're not prepared, you�ll need it. That's usually my luck.
Keep your cell phone in a dry bag. Keep it zipped up in a Ziploc bag. If you do turn the boat over, a dog jumped down and turned your boat over, then you've got your phones at least dry that you can call for help.
Dylan Mayfield: Yeah. I would say if the person's unconscious, you know, try to get them to regain consciousness, you know, obviously CPR, anything like that. If they're in and out of consciousness, try to keep them awake, you know, anything like that that kinda keeps their cognitive ability going.
Charlie L Shugart: What have we left out that you guys want listeners to know that maybe we haven't touched
Kyle Lewis: Secondary drowning.
Charlie L Shugart: Oh, okay. Tell me what that is.
Kyle Lewis: You go into the water. It's not really a medical term, but it refers to when your body responds to a near-drowning episode. It can occur up to, like, forty-eight hours later. You ingest water when you're breathing and struggling, you have water in your lungs. You don't get all out. I mean, there have been cases where people and children have died maybe twenty-four hours after a near-drowning episode, for this little, unknown kind of a situation that'll occur. Things to watch for would be difficulty breathing, extreme tiredness, changes in behavior, and a persistent cough. You're trying to cough that water still, you're trying to cough that up. Chest pains, vomiting, difficulty of speaking. I mean, any kind of near-drowning experience, cold water, warm water, you really need to see a physician. A children's pediatrician, somebody like that, and they'll be knowing to check for all these signs and symptoms and things like that. I mean, the child has a close call or something like that, falling in the oh, you're we'll get you ordered up. You'll be fine. You may be out of the woods now, but you still gotta be thinking ahead. Unfortunately, it does happen sometimes.
Dylan Mayfield: On the secondary drowning typically at night with kids because they lay down, your lungs, you know, fill up with more with water. It's harder to breathe and that's a lot of the time where secondary drowning does happen, unfortunately. Just go get checked out. I mean, why not? You know, that's one of my questions.
Kyle Lewis: Absolutely. Absolutely. Why not?
Charlie L Shugart: Okay. Dylan, Kyle, this was very helpful. I appreciate you guys taking the time to come in and talk about this. This is so important.
Kyle Lewis: Absolutely. We're glad to do it. And like I say, one of us are almost always around the office, so you're always welcome to stop by the Granbury Lake office or any of the lake offices. Any of the rangers or anybody like that, PK or Limestone, they'd be glad to visit with somebody. We're always glad to have information to share about and things like that, and they can always reach out to you guys if they have questions as well.
Dylan Mayfield: We have lake maps to show where, you know, the safer, I would say, in quotes, you know, places to boat and some of the swim beaches and any of the water safety literature. If you need help sizing a life jacket or you need a life jacket, feel free to reach out.
Kyle Lewis: Yep. We still have some left from last year. We'll have some leftovers. We'll be glad to fix you up.
Charlie L Shugart: Anyone listening that wants a free lake map, you can just email us at information@Brazos.org, and we are happy to mail you one. We have maps of Lake Limestone, Possum Kingdom, and, obviously, Lake Granberry. So just remember, it's not about being a survival expert, but about torching that dangerous lie we tell ourselves, the kind of lie that whispers, it won't happen to me. Unfortunately, the numbers don't lie. Drowning isn't just a problem for other people.
It happens to people who, just like you and me, took a small risk they thought was fine until the second it wasn't. Be smart. Be prepared, and thanks for joining us. We'll see you next time on Unpacking the Brazos River.