Panic started to set in after Katie Beck realized her 72-year-old mother-in-law and 5-year-old daughter could not paddle their way back to shore on Cedar Lake in Minneapolis.
Crews rescue woman and granddaughter on Cedar Lake in Minneapolis
A Fire Department team helped the two return safely to shore after their raft drifted into the middle of the lake.
July 20, 2022 at 1:22AM
What should have been a fun raft ride in the humid weather turned into a nerve-wracking water rescue.
Earlier Tuesday, Beck said her mother-in-law, Margie Beck of St. Louis Park, bought a $20 raft as a treat for her grandchildren and daughter-in-law visiting from Wrenshall, a small town of about 500 people in northeastern Minnesota. They arrived at the beach at 3 p.m.
Katie Beck said the strong wind started to push the raft carrying Margie and 5-year-old Stella farther and farther away.
Stella was wearing a life-jacket but Margie wasn't. Katie Beck said fear slowly crept in as she watched the two drifting away. Right next to her was her 3-year-old daughter Lilly, who would have had no one to watch her if Beck swam out there to save them.
"I had to kind of talk to myself, so I wouldn't get emotional," Beck said.
She had left her phone in the car, so she asked people on the beach to call the police. When police arrived about 4 p.m., Beck said that Margie and Stella had been stranded for about 45 minutes and had drifted to the middle of the lake.
"[Margie] even commented when she heard the siren. She said she was hoping it was for her," Beck said.
A boat from the Minneapolis Fire Department fetched the two family members, Beck said, adding that Stella called the rescue "an adventure."
"I think she was calming grandma down more than grandma was calming her down," Beck said, laughing.
After the rescue, the whole family went to get ice cream. "We won't be rafting on a lake anytime soon," Beck said.
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