Two women feared missing on the Chattahoochee River have been found safe. Officials say the pair, in their twenties, were located at a store in White County shortly after 7 a.m. Thursday following a nearly five-hours long search for them.
The women went into the water on the evening of July 8. When it got dark, they got scared and got out, according to what they told officials. They slept in a field and began walking at daylight.
Around 7 a.m. on July 9, Habersham County Assistant Fire Chief Jason Davey went to the Dollar General Store located at the Habersham/White County line. “As he was pulling up they came walking around from the rear of the store,” says Habersham County Emergency Services Director Chad Black.
Emergency personnel drove the women back to the search and rescue command post where they were evaluated by paramedics. Black says both seemed to be “ok.”
Pre-dawn search
The encounter at Dollar General ended an extensive search launched after Habersham County 911 received a call about the missing women around 2:44 Thursday morning, July 9.
White County and Lee Arrendale firefighters and the Georgia State Patrol Aviation Unit assisted HCES in the pre-dawn search. Swift Water Teams also were called in to help search the river by boat and on the shoreline.
Grace Mitchum captured this video of the aerial search from her home on Buck Island in Demorest.
