On the afternoon of May 24th, at 11:27 a.m., a man called the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) Dispatch to report that his mother had just been swept down the Sacramento River. The caller explained that his mother had been attempting to wade across a portion of the Upper Sacramento River near Hedge Creek Falls, when she lost her footing and was carried downstream. The woman, 66 year-old Jin Yen Lee of Irvine, CA, was described as 5’0 ft tall and was last seen wearing a blue vest and khaki pants.
A coordinated rescue operation by the Sheriff’s Office, CAL FIRE, and the Dunsmuir Fire Department was immediately initiated along the Upper Sacramento River. At 12:24 p.m. CAL FIRE’s swift water rescue team notified SCSO Dispatch that they had retrieved a woman from the river near the Dunsmuir Botanical Gardens, approximately 1 mile downstream of Hedge Creek Falls.
Despite continual lifesaving efforts during the woman’s transportation to the hospital, rescuers were not able to revive her, and she was tragically pronounced deceased at Mercy Medical Center in Mount Shasta. The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office positively identified the woman as Ms. Lee, and notified her next of kin.
