Ithaca, NY (WBNG Binghamton)Recent deaths have drawn more concern about recreation at Ithaca area Gorges. The area is meant for hiking and enjoying nature. Recent scenery has included rescues or recoveries.
"When it's hot, people want to go swimming, but they also want to get adventurous," says Ithaca Deputy Fire Chief Tom Parsons.
Parsons says it usually begins when people swim closer to the falls, then start climbing up the sides.
The rock is slippery and the bordering walls are made of shale, which easily breaks.
"We've had two significant injuries this weekend from people falling," says Parsons.
Two more people drowned early this summer after they were caught in the currents at the Ithaca Gorge. Both of those cases were people swimming in forbidden areas.
" You're in the water, you're trying to swim against a strong current; maybe also trying to pull you down," says Cornell University Associate Professor, Todd Cowen.
Currents can hold a person down for nearly a minute before someone may resurface.
Cowen says people may not realize changes in the water.
"You enter the water, feels very calm where you are then you get near that tip and flow behaviors change. Very strong currents," says Cowen.
Laren Addabbo is visiting the gorges from New Jersey.
His daughter is taking a summer program at Cornell University.
He says the gorges do make him concerned for her safety and other students.
"They don't always have the best judgment in applied to situations like being here," says Addabbo.
Deputy Fire Chief Parsons says if the signs are telling you not to swim or climb, there is a reason.
Recent deaths are proof of that.
Ithaca City Police and Cornell University Police are beefing up patrols of the gorges.
Telling people to stay out of the water where it is not allowed, and staying away from the rock walls.
City officials encourage people to visit Butter Milk Falls or Taughannock Falls State Park, where there are designated places to swim.
Twitter
Facebook