Flathead officials are still searching for a paddleboarder missing from the Hungry Horse Reservoir.
Emily Rea disappeared July 16, according to the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office. Authorities and search teams have logged over 1,800 hours looking for Rea, though those efforts have been unsuccessful.
“Based on cell phone data, security camera footage, and her vehicle’s location at the Riverside Boat Launch parking lot, it is believed Emily was alone when she put her paddleboard into the Hungry Horse Reservoir sometime after 8:30 PM at the Riverside Boat Launch,” a Thursday news release stated.
The boat launch is 21 miles up Southfork Road on the east side of the reservoir. Rea’s board was found upside down near Flossy Creek, over 2 miles west of the boat launch, on the evening of July 17. A wind from the west was reported at the reservoir on the evening of July 16.
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Her paddle was found stowed and assembled on the board, but Rea’s cell phone wasn’t. It last pinged “on a tower reachable on the South Fork Road between Martin City and the Riverside Boat Launch, with the time of the ping consistent with her travel from the last security camera sighting to the Riverside Boat Launch,” the release stated.
Rea is a 33-year-old woman. She’s 5 feet, 5 inches tall with brown hair and brown eyes.
The sheriff’s office has sent out multiple search and rescue units including dog teams, boat teams equipped with sonar and underwater robots, ground teams, Two Bear Air, drone teams and divers. The news release said officials have spent over 1,800 hours looking for Rea.
In the two weeks since her disappearance, officials received numerous tips from the community. The news release said those tips haven’t led to any substantial information beyond what authorities knew. Efforts to find Rea are still continuing.
Local authorities have responded to multiple other rescue calls in the process of searching for Rea. On July 28, a man entered the water near Wounded Buck at the reservoir and didn’t come out. He wasn’t found. The following day, boat crews and divers pulled the body of a 63-year-old Bigfork man from the water.
“Flathead County is a fantastic place to enjoy the outdoors,” the news release said. “With approximately 5,200 square miles of area and many square miles of recreational water, the Sheriff’s Office respectfully requests that boaters and swimmers use life jackets for safety.”
Zoë Buchli is the education reporter for the Missoulian.