Jordan Lake Near-drowning
By Wil Weldon

Swimmers at Jordan Lake are a little more careful in the water now. On Memorial Day, an 18-year-old named Rodrigo Lopez Arebalo lay on the bottom of the lake for 15 minutes before rescuers saved him.

That and other weekend incidents have many more people wearing life jackets and taking extra precautions when they visit Jordan Lake and other local recreation areas.

On-duty lifeguards are too expensive for the state. But signs warn swimmers of the danger. The state provides lifejackets. There are also park rangers who are trained in CPR.

“We just don’t have lifeguards on the beach area,” said Jordan Lake State Park Ranger said. “We do try to retrieve a person that’s in the water. We’ll try our best to get him out or somebody pulls him out, we will do CPR on that person, until the emergency medical service does arrive.”

Parsons estimated roughly half of the one and a half million visitors to Jordan Lake each year can’t swim.