Kentucky Boy Identified As Missing Child At Cummins Falls

Jackson County authorities have identified an Eddyville, Kentucky boy as the missing child at Cummins Falls State Park.

Crews located the body of two-year-old Steven Pierce around 7:12 a.m. Monday morning. He went missing Sunday evening after a rush of water stranded more than 60 people visiting the park.

Tennessee State Parks Assistant Chief Ranger J.R. Tinch said the boy was not wearing a life jacket.

“The safety of our visitors is of our utmost importance,” Tinch said. “One of the safety precautions that we have implemented is that we have a large amount of life jackets down at the bottom of the gorge. Those are down there for folks to use for free and we encourage them to use them.”

Tinch said floodwaters swept the child away as his parents began crossing the river to exit the park. Park Manager Ray Cutcher said it took about two minutes for the water to rise on Sunday.

“One of the ways that we gauge the river rising is based off the top of the falls at one of the points,” Tinch said. “When water hits that point, that lets us know that water has risen to a point that it’s time to start evacuating folks.”

Tinch said staff at the base of the falls began evacuating visitors when water hit the point of concern. A total of 64 people had to be evacuated Sunday, but none of the visitors received medical treatment.

This marked the second significant flash flood event at Cummins Falls in nearly two years. More than two dozen people had to be rescued in July 2017 after water quickly rose to dangerous levels.

Officials began looking at ways to improve safety at the park after the 2017 incident. Tinch said the park had planned to install gauges and a warning system, but that project has not come to fruition.

“The gauges and the warning system is something we are still researching right now,” Tinch said. “That’s something that is not implemented yet, but that is something that is in the works still.”

Park rangers had closed the gorge area on Friday and Saturday, but it reopened on Sunday. A Facebook post on Sunday warned that more rain was in the forecast and that the gorge could be evacuated if the stream were to rise.

At least 14 of the 64 victims required swiftwater rope evacuations on Sunday.