Family doubts warning system after river death

BUFORD - Yvette Bruno recalls her uncle, Ira Braitsch, as an avid sportsman whose love of the outdoors kept him on the trail of fish or wild game at least four times a week.

Braitsch took all the precautions, his niece said. It's that cautious nature that has his family wondering why Braitsch encountered rough water on the Chattahoochee River, capsizing his jon boat and tossing in Braitsch and a friend.

The trout-fishing trip claimed the life of Braitsch, 64. Relatives contend he got bad information from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about whether water would be released through Buford Dam, raising water levels.

"They were definitely told that they were not releasing," said Bruno, a New Jersey resident visiting Gwinnett County on Friday to attend Braitsch's funeral.

Following Braitsch's death, river enthusiasts called into question the agency's automated warning system, a recorded public safety service accessible by phone, radio and the Internet.

A corps official defended the warning for Buford Dam water releases, calling the system among the most effective in the United States. Early last week, another corps official discussed in detail the warning system during an appearance on The Local Hour on WDUN NEWS TALK 550. (See below for link to earlier story.)

Bob Hove, whose two sons are avid fly fishermen, says, though, the automated system made no mention of water releases late on March 6, the night before Braitsch was on the river. Braitsch and his friend - Michael Boyle, 67, who survived - reportedly hit a log and went in the water just before noon the next day.

"That's pretty tragic if those two old guys went out thinking there would be no release," Hove said.

Tim Rainey, operations manager for the corps, said records show the automated warning was updated at 1:55 p.m. Saturday, alerting Chattahoochee patrons to a release on the Sunday morning of Braitsch's death.

"Judging by all our information, we had everything posted as soon as we got it," Rainey said.

Downstream flow rate data provided by the corps show it takes three hours before a typical water release from Buford Dam will affect the area where the boat capsized, near McGinnis Ferry Road. Water completely recedes in that area in six hours.

"There's not like a wall of water or anything," said Jerry Waldrip, 65, the Lawrenceville boater and seasoned Chattahoochee trout fisherman credited with pulling Boyle from the water - and the last to see Braitsch alive. "It just rises fast."

Rainey said there's no protocol governing how long the automated system is updated before water is released. The recording warns river goers that "schedules can change with hydropower demands or equipment failure" and that released waters "are subject to turbulent flows and are dangerous."

Water is released primarily to create hydropower, but also to evacuate water from an overflowing Lake Lanier and ensure water quality downstream. Schedules change daily and are subject to last-minute switches, particularly during power failures at other generators, Rainey said.

Besides automated messages, the corps sounds a series of four horns near the river before each release. It has warning signs every 300 feet from the dam to Ga. 20 where lifejackets are required.

"I don't know of any other dam in the country that has the complex safety plan that we have," Rainey said. "Usually there's a horn on top of the dam, and that's it. We have four spaced out over 2 1/2 miles."

Whatever the culprit in Braitsch's death, his niece said he death left a painful void.

She said Braitsch frequented the river since moving to Georgia, and died doing what he loved. He leaves behind a wife, Faye, an 11-year-old granddaughter and his 90-year-old mother, Bruno said.

"My uncle was the greatest guy you would've ever wanted to know," she said. "He would do anything for anyone."

http://accesswdun.com/article/2010/3/227574