RedactedNarrative: At approximately 2:30pm on saturday, june 20th, 2020 Operator was paddling down the cheoah river between bear creek falls and python rapids. His paddling partner did not see operator exit his kayak. 
  
  Subject saw operator swimming, outside his kayak, before entering python rapids. Subject attempted to assist operator before he entered the rapids, but was unable to reach him. 
  
  Subject operated his kayak through the rapids and attempted to locate operator down river, he was unable to do so. Approximately 15 minutes later another kayaker saw operator floating down river, face down.  The kayaker was unable to reach operator until a piece of equipment snagged on a rock. Several kayakers assisted in getting operator to shore and began cpr at approximately 2:50pm. 911 was called at 3:04pm. Emts arrived on scene at 3:23pm. Operator was pronounced dead on scene at 3:44pm. The graham county medical examiner determined cause of death to be drowning. The cheoah river was running at a volume of 1200 cubic feet a second (cfs) at time of incident. The river normally runs at 800-1000 cfs, during dam discharge, is classified as a class iv river. The above average flow increases  classification to class v.
  