Drones Help Rescue Stranded Boaters at Low Sardis Lake

Drought-shrunken water levels at Sardis Lake triggered three separate boater rescues in the span of a week, including two on Saturday morning that forced Lafayette County crews to deploy a drone after conditions left the lake simultaneously too shallow to navigate by boat and too wet to reach by ground vehicle.

Lafayette County public information officer Beau Moore said the Lafayette County Sheriff's Office and Lafayette County Fire Department worked together on the Saturday rescues, with the fire department using a drone to guide at least one stranded boater to safety. The unusual approach was necessary because the lake had receded enough in some areas for a person to walk through, yet remained too wet for a side-by-side rescue vehicle to be deployed. One boater's craft ran aground directly because of the low water level.

The Saturday incidents were the second and third such rescues in roughly a week. Moore said all three incidents involved boats not suitable to traverse the shallow sections of the lake. One of the Saturday rescues was confirmed complete by 1:01 p.m. No injuries were reported across any of the three incidents.

Moore attributed the hazardous conditions to persistent drought, which has kept Sardis Lake's water level well below normal, and urged visitors to avoid boating on the lake until conditions improve. The repeated groundings over such a short period underscore how significantly the reservoir has drawn down, turning familiar recreational waters into an obstacle course of exposed shallows capable of trapping vessels that might otherwise navigate the lake without difficulty.