SNOHOMISH COUNTY, Wash. - Feet still numb from her long ordeal in the Stillaguamish River, Alyssa Eagan speaks with conviction.
I'll never float the river again, she said.
As the 20-year-old Arlingtonresident tells it, she should have been the one in the least danger Sunday. She was in the last group of six friends tubing down the river near Arlington.
We came up to where some branches had fallen over, and the current was really bad but we didn't notice it, she said.
It was actually a friend, Alexis Benefield, 15, who got caughtin the current first and got pushed into a strainer along the east bank.
When I tried to grab the log, I went under completely, and the twine wrapped around my neck, Benefield said.
Alexis said she was able to pull herself free, but the current sent three others, including Alyssa's younger sister Amanda, into the branches as well.
I just thought that wouldn't happen to us because you never think that bad things are going to happen, said Amanda, 15.
Just a day earlier, Anne Marie McKinnon, 31, had drowned upstream.
The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office warns high waters and fast currents are making the Stillaguamish far more dangerous than it was this time last year.
Alyssa said she and her roommate actually stopped their tubes before they got too close, but when Alyssa thought she saw her sister pulled under the water, she jumped up.
That's when I decided I can't let my sister be stuck under a log, Alyssa said. She's... one of the most important people to me. So I started to walk slowly towards them.
Butthat'swhen the current pushed her down, she said, and pushed her into another log in the river, where she became entangled.
She had one leg planted, kind of stiff-legged it, she said, and the other one bent over the top of the log... trying to hold onto what wasn't slimy on the log.
I just had to hang on and I started yelling for help, she said. It was horrible, I was like,'Please don't let me die,' because I cannot swim.
Eagan said she was a little more than waist-deep in the water, but fought to keep her legs from buckling in the current. Deputy Scott Robertson talked with her while coordinating a rescue effort, said the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office.
The others, meanwhile,were able to escape but she wasn't able to get out.
Fire District 24 and Fire District 26 responded and a hovercraft was able to reach the girl and safely remove her from the water.
Eagan was transported to a hospital and later released.
Alexis Benefield said, like Alyssa, she has no plans to return to the river.
It's strongerthan you, she said. It's going to pull you in.And you can't fight it.
