Two men were rescued Sunday from the Pee Dee River after losing control of their boat, according to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office.
Daryl Everett Moore, 50, and Jeremy Rainwater, 32, both of Rockingham, were on the Pee Dee River in a boat when it overturned, the Sheriff’s Office reported.
Both men were wearing life vests, lawmen said, and Moore made it to a boat ramp at Dairy Barn and Rainwater drifted downstream to a bridge.
The call came to 911 around 3:30 p.m. when campers in the woods heard someone on the river calling for help.
“Someone heard one guy hollering,” said Jeremy Chance, deputy chief of Cordova Fire & Rescue. “We called Lilesville and they brought a boat out. We also called Rockingham Fire Rescue who got the second guy who was on the shore.”
According to Chance, Rainwater and Moore were in good condition when they were found.
“The boat is long gone,” said Chance. “The water is really high and moving faster than it should be. Those are definitely unsafe conditions. The storm water is rushing down and there is a lot of debris floating in the water from the storms.”
These unsafe conditions prompted Richmond County Sheriff James E. Clemmons Jr. to ask the North Carolina Department of Transportation to close the boat landings to the public until safe conditions have been observed on the river.
“Because of all the rain the boat landings have been closed for safety precautions,” Clemmons said Monday at 10:30 a.m. “We have asked DOT to barricade the two boat entrances.”
The boat landing on Blewett Falls Road at the dam has been closed as well as the boat landing at the Pee Dee River bridge, according to Clemmons, who said the barricades will remain up during the next 24 hours as the river is further evaluated for safety.
The rescue effort, according to Chance, lasted about half an hour and between three departments took about 20 people to complete.
“We were quick on it,” said Chance. “This is about the seventh (boat overturning incident) we’ve had in the last two months.”
— Staff Writer Dawn M. Kurry can be reached at 910-997-3111, ext. 15, or by email at dkurry@civitasmedia.com.













