Man missing after leaping into swirling canal waters
He and some friends wanted to cool off in the Tampa Bypass Canal. But open floodgates created a powerful undertow.
By LETITIA STEIN
Published September 8, 2004
THONOTOSASSA - A 22-year-old man is missing and presumed drowned after going for a swim Tuesday in the swirling currents of the Tampa Bypass Canal.
The missing man was identified as Eric Downey by a family friend, Patrick Meeks.
Downey and his friends wanted to beat the heat with an afternoon dip near the dam's floodgates, a popular swimming spot off Harney Road and U.S. 301 in east Hillsborough County. They said they were unaware of the dangerous undertow that coursed through the dam gates, which were open following the weekend rains.
Downey surfaced once to yell for help, according to Ray Yeakley, a spokesman for Hillsborough County Fire Rescue. His companions never saw him again.
"Some of the best swimmers would not be able to get away," Yeakley said.
The current was so treacherous that divers could not enter the canal to search for Downey even after the Southwest Florida Water Management District closed nearby dams. The dams were opened on Monday to relieve flooding along the Hillsborough River.
As word spread through Dowmey's close-knit neighborhood nearby, friends and family gathered at the canal. A young man burst through a crowd of onlookers, jumping a barbed-wire fence on which no-swimming signs were posted.
"That's my brother," he cried, collapsing into the arms of friends.
Downey was engaged to be married, said Meeks, who employed one of Downey's brothers.
"They're just redneck country folks that love swimming," Meeks said.
