ENGLEWOOD — Rescue crews said it could be days before they get back in the water to look for a missing man’s body.
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As reported on News Center 7 at 5:00, all the rain made the Stillwater River unsafe.
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Englewood fire said the depth and width of the Stillwater River at Englewood MetroPark have tripled since the search started on Monday.
The victim was last seen near the canoe launch and a trail at the MetroPark, but all of that is underwater now.
These conditions mean crews have had to pause searching on, or in, the river with boats and divers.
Firefighters are just searching downstream at this point.
Twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, they searched on foot from the shoreline and from the air.
“We, with the assistance of Vandalia Division of Fire this morning, had a drone in that area also searching over the waters,” Englewood Fire Department Chief Anthony Terrace said.
They will continue to search using this approach until the river levels drop.
“Our tactics change a little bit, but we’re still committed to objective of a successful recovery,” Terrace said.
As News Center 7 previously reported, they’ve been looking for the man since just after 7 p.m. on Monday.
His girlfriend called 911 after getting herself out of the river.
“Were you canoeing or something?” the dispatcher asked.
She told dispatchers that she fell into the river from the path they were walking on. Her boyfriend jumped in after her, even though she told him not to because he couldn’t swim.
Terrace said crews have used search dogs and technology to confirm the victim is most likely still in their original search area, which is about the length of five football fields upstream from the Englewood Dam.
“We have every reason to believe that our victim is still in that area and we’ll continue to search that area until we have reason to believe he’s no longer located there,” Terrace said.
Terrace said the river needs to drop another eight feet before crews can safely get back on the water.
For that to happen, we’ll need several days without rain.
We will continue to follow this story.
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