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The City of Portland announced today it will temporarily close Kelley Point Park after a 10-year-old girl drowned at the North Portland park Sunday.
The girl's death follows the drowning of a man in his 20s at the park earlier this month.
The park will be closed while workers install new, larger signs informing park-goers that swimmers and wading is prohibited.
That policy went into effect in 2012 after drownings in 2011 but swimmers had either failed to see or ignored warnings.
Kelley Point Park is a 104-acre greenspace located at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers. Long, sandy beaches make the park attractive when the weather heats up, as it is forecast to do again later this week.
"At this time, the powerful rivers and ever-changing conditions are too unpredictable to be considered safe—until we do more analysis and establish other precautions," Portland Parks & Recreation Director Mike Abbaté said in a statement. "I want to make sure the danger of swimming off Kelley Point Park is clear to all park visitors. We will keep the park closed until additional signage is in place."
The Parks Bureau made the announcement in conjunction with Portland Fire & Rescue, which responds to medical emergencies.
"Our abilities to rescue swimmers in the situations such as we encountered yesterday are very limited," says PF&R Chief Mike Myers said in a statement. "We need to save people before they even get in the water, and we must rely on education, and the community understanding what they face when it comes to nature, to bolster our efforts. We don't want to see a tragedy like this again."
Willamette Week