Everett councilman dies in rafting accident on Green River

Flags are at half-staff in Everett on Monday, after a city
council member was killed in a rafting accident on the
Green River over the weekend.

Drew Nielsen was killed when his raft became caught on a
rock in the rapids known as the “Nozzle” on the Green
River.

Sergeant Jim Knauss in the King County Sheriff’s Office
told reporters the snow-fed river is running fast and
cold.

“It’s one of the risks of the sport,” he said. “They did
have proper safety equipment on, and he had a proper life
vest on, but the force of the river, it’s fast and it’s
cold, it took the life jacket right off of him.”

Nielsen’s wife was also thrown from the raft, but she was
pulled to safety by another person in the party.

Lieutenant Rodney Rochon in the Snohomish County Sheriff’s
Office says now is not the time to test Northwest rivers,
especially if you have little experience.

He told KING 5 “the water is still cold and we have snow
melt coming down.”

Experts warn novices to avoid cold and fast-moving
Northwest rivers until July when the conditions are much
safer.

Councilman Nielsen spent 50 or 60 days a year rafting
local rivers, and his experience wasn’t enough to keep him
out of danger.