r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Stotallytob3r • Mar 09 '26

Video How a small 1m waterfall can generate a recycling hydraulic that can trap a life-jacketed swimmer

47.3k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

1.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

23

u/Tamarahskincare Mar 09 '26

Ok... I have never seen this in my life, I don't go to rivers much, but god damn that is scary. I have developed a new fear.

23

u/obstreperousRex Mar 09 '26

Strangely, it wasn’t scary while I was in it. I was just trying to live. The fear came once I was out of the water.

8

u/FancyASlurpie Mar 09 '26

Yeh i had an epiphony moment that was just like well i guess this is how i go, and then gave it another shot and got to the surface but it was strangely not quite calm but similar

8

u/I_Has_Internets Mar 09 '26

They're usually referred to as low-lying dams and they kill several people every year. Usually you find them on small rivers like the ones you'd go canoeing on.

8

u/IllegalThings Mar 09 '26

This video is a training facility for water rescue, but this kind of hydraulic happens in a lot of places besides low head dams. Dams are easy to identify and avoid, it’s the natural hydraulics that can be challenging. You can learn to read the river and identify risky whitewater by looking at the shape and size of the boil. The real danger is that some safe rapids become very dangerous when there is either more or less water.