Fisherman’s body found after capsized boat sucked into dam spillway, TN officials say
The body of a missing fisherman was found Saturday after his boat capsized last week on a Tennessee river and got sucked into a dam spillway, officials say.
Two men were aboard the fiberglass fishing boat on the Tennessee River around 10 a.m. Nov. 29 when the boat overturned under the Fort Loudoun dam, The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency wrote on Facebook.
The fishermen went overboard into the “treacherous waters,” the agency says, and the boat was sucked into the dam’s spillway before washing out, the agency says. Both men were wearing flotation devices.
Bystanders rescued one of the men, 44-year-old Steven Musick, who went overboard, and he was taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, the agency says.
The other man, 51-year-old Eric Mowery, went underwater and “never resurfaced.” He was missing for a week.
Wildlife officers and fisherman recovered Mowery’s body Saturday afternoon when it resurfaced in the same area where he was pulled underwater, TWRA wrote on Facebook.
Spillways release excess water from a dam’s reservoir. When they do, they create a “strong flow of water” and a current that can “pull a powerful boat upstream toward plunging water that could shred any boat,” the Tennessee Valley Authority says.
Fort Loudoun — a 122-foot high, 4,190-foot long hydroelectric dam — is a “popular recreation destination” for bass fishing, boating and bird watching, according to the TVA.
Mowery’s death is the third in fatality below Ft. Loudoun Dam in three years, according to TWRA.
“TWRA encourages anglers to not approach the downstream dam face and wing wall area while water is spilling from the gates,” the agency wrote on Facebook.
This story was originally published November 29, 2020 at 11:51 AM with the headline "Fisherman’s body found after capsized boat sucked into dam spillway, TN officials say."
