The Strainers
The Potomac River's Hidden Killers |
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The Potomac River kills an Average of 14 people every year. Many of those people are killed by strainers. A strainer is anything in the riverbed that can snag you as you are carried downstream. A fallen tree makes a great strainer with all it's branches acting like a large net. There are strainers everywhere along the river. Some strainers are easy to see but most are under the water surface and hidden. Once a person is caught in a strainer they are held there with great force by the river’s current. The force of the current can be hundreds of pounds per square inch in whitewater areas. |
