Beautiful and popular, Fall Creek can be dangerous

The Oconee coroner, Karl Addis, has complied with a newspaper reporter’s request for a breakdown of the 20 drownings at Fall Creek landing on Lake Keowee that date back over his career, which started in 1993. Addis conducted an analysis of the fatalities from 1997 to just this past Saturday. Eight of the victims lived in Greenville County; six in Pickens County; four in Spartanburg County, one from Newberry County, and one from Jackson County, North Carolina. None of the 20 lived in Oconee where Fall Creek is located. “A number of the individuals I recall had limited swimming abilities or none at all….” he said. Toxicology results show that in seven of the fatalities, alcohol; was detected; in eight of the cases, drugs were found in the bodies. Addis concluded his analysis this way: “Fall Creek, located on upper Lake Keowee near Salem, is a beautiful and a very popular area of Oconee County. The Oconee County Coroner’s Office encourages individuals who visit Fall Creek for swimming, boating, or jumping from ‘The Rock’, to please use good judgment and place safety first for themselves, their family and friends. Do not swim alone; if swimming capabilities are limited, the use of a personal flotation device is strongly advised.”