In 2020, on June 7, a Sunday, a 33-year-old man floating in a kayak on Lake Norman turned over and drowned.
The following Sunday on the same lake, a 28-year-old man jumped from a boat and disappeared. Authorities found his body about a week later.
Later in June, a 27-year-old pontoon boat driver dove into the lake. He also drowned.
June is the deadliest month for swimming and recreation in North Carolina waters, according to data from the state’s Wildlife Resources Commission. And the waterway with the most fatalities between 2012 and 2023 was Lake Norman, the huge, man-made lake that divides four counties northwest of Charlotte.
‘Save your life’
According to a Charlotte Observer analysis of state data, 230 people died while boating or swimming in state waterways between 2012 and 2023. More than 40 of them died in June, the first month of summer and the time when crowds flock to beaches, rivers and lakes.
At least 19% of the 230 people who died had drugs or alcohol in their system at the time of their death.
Most victims, like the three men who died in Lake Norman in 2020, were not wearing life jackets, records show.
In 2017, the Wildlife Resource Commission launched its “Preserve Your Life” campaign, which emphasizes the importance of wearing a personal flotation device in the water. In an emergency, there is not always time to put one on, the campaign says. And even the best swimmers can become incapacitated in an accident, it says.
About 20% of people who died on state waters died in a boating accident or suffered some kind of trauma, such as being injured after diving into shallow water, data shows.
About half drowned. Others died of heart attacks, hypothermia or other medical conditions.
Fatalities from Lake Norman
Lake Norman, the largest lake in North Carolina, is also the deadliest body of water in the state.
Twenty-eight people died in the lake between 2012 and 2023, The Observer found. Meckleburg County’s other lakes saw far fewer deaths.
Along the Catawba River south of Lake Norman is Mountain Island Lake, where two fatalities occurred – the result of a boating accident in 2015.
Farther south, along the South Carolina border, Lake Wylie recorded five fatalities, the most recent of which occurred during a boating accident in 2022, records show.
Mecklenburg County leads the nation in waterway deaths
Some other takeaways from the Wildlife Resources Commission data:
▪ Fatalities on North Carolina waterways have dropped in recent years, from 26 in 2020 to 16 last year.
▪ Nearly 80% of the victims were not wearing a life jacket.
▪ Mecklenburg County had the most deaths with 17. Iredell County, just north of Charlotte, and coastal Brunswick County had 13 deaths.
NC Reality Check reflects the Charlotte Observer’s commitment to holding those in power accountable, shines a light on public issues affecting our local readers and illuminates the stories that distinguish the Charlotte region and North Carolina. Do you have a suggestion for a future story? Email realitycheck@charlotteobserver.com
