The U.S. Coast Guard was called on to perform two rescues on local waterways over a 12-hour period Monday night and Tuesday morning. At around 11:30 p.m. Monday, a boat was taking on water near the Erie Basin Marina. The Coast Guard was able to escort the disabled boat back into the marina, where the owner successfully secured it to his trailer and took it out of the water. There were no injuries.
Tuesday around 11:30 a.m., the Coast Guard towed a 24-foot pleasure boat to safety with four people aboard that had run aground on the Bird Island Reef and was drifting near the Peace Bridge.
The incidents prompted the Coast Guard to remind boaters to thoroughly inspect their vessels before use, use navigational charts to know where they are boating, and to warn that Lake Erie water temperatures are still low enough to cause hypothermia.