A bolt of lightning, a clap of thunder, and a killer cloudburst fell on the Sandy River at Ramona Falls just before 3 p.m. Aug. 12.

The river level rose immediately, collapsing the footbridge at Ramona Falls, and the raging rapids swept away Brent Ludwig, 34, of New Lenox, Illinois. He was washed off the bridge and his body was discovered one mile downstream. He had drowned.

Twenty three other hikers were stranded on the opposite side of the river –
including four members of Ludwig’s family – and after several hours they were
brought to safety by a swift water rescue employing rapid deployment crafts
of the Clackamas County Water Rescue Consortium.

Several teams of rescuers were sent to the scene following a 911 call. Other
units searched the river bank downstream for the missing hiker, including
Evan Jarvis, 25, of Welches, a firefighter-paramedic of the Hoodland Fire
Department.

On receiving the alert, Jarvis, along with volunteer firefighter Luke Fortune,
took off in the Rescue 251 vehicle with rescue packs, life preservers and throw
bags.

“We knew of stranded people upriver, but our job was to focus downstream
for the man in the water,” Jarvis told The Mountain Times.

From the Brightwood trailhead the pair started upstream under miserable
conditions.

“There were no radio communications, it was pouring rain, and the Sandy
River looked like a chocolate fountain,” Jarvis said.

“There was no walking room due to the swollen river and we had to go up
embankments, through ravines, over fallen trees, and even had to hack our
way through a stand of alder that were no more than a foot apart.”

All the while, concern grew from knowing they might be missing the
endangered hiker as their course necessarily took them out of sight of the
river.

“Also, when we got near the river, there were trees flying by and the river
was so fast, so dark, we knew he could go by,” Jarvis said.

After more than two hours into the search, finally in radio communication,
Jarvis received word the hiker had been found.

Cold, wet and tired, Jarvis and Fortune abandoned the search, with new
respect for nature’s power.

“The rushing water, the sound of boulders striking together, it was an
incredible show of force,” Jarvis said.

Responding agencies included Hoodland Fire, Sandy Fire, Clackamas County
Search and Rescue, Clackamas County Dive Rescue, Pacific Northwest Search
and Rescue, Lake Oswego Fire, Gladstone Fire, Tualatin Valley Fire, Clackamas
County Fire District 1, US Forest Service, Oregon State Police and Mountain
Wave Communications.