The Fourth of July weekend in Northeast Georgia proved to be filled with arrests, crashes and injuries on area waterways.
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources issued its final report on incidents and arrests across state waterways for the holiday weekend Monday morning. The Gainesville area alone saw dozens of arrests and injuries.
Eighteen total injuries were reported, with the majority of those coming from two boat explosions on the Fourth of July, one on Lake Lanier at Lake Lanier Islands and the other on Lake Nottely in Union County. Another injury was reported Friday when an 18-year-old man was struck by lightning while riding a personal watercraft on Lake Blue Ridge in Fannin County.
Another boat fire happened early Saturday morning at a private dock on Lake Hartwell in Hart County. The fire reportedly destroyed the dock, a boat, a personal watercraft and several other items, but no injuries were reported in that incident. Electrical issues are believed to have caused that fire.
Finally, three people were injured when a boat jumped a support cable and went onto a gangway at Thompson Creek Boat Ramp on Lake Lanier in Dawson County Sunday morning. Those three injuries were reportedly minor, with no one being hospitalized.
There were three fatalities on Georgia waterways over the weekend, but none of them were reported in the Northeast Georgia region.
Northeast Georgia did see 17 total boating under the influence arrests made over the weekend.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2025/7/1292617/final-numbers-july-fourth-weekend-in-nega-sees-dozens-of-boating-injuries-arrests