Several Boats Sink During Parade In Support Of Trump In Texas

Several boats have sunk at Lake Travis in Texas while taking part in a parade in support of US President Donald Trump without any casualties reported.

The parade crowded the lake generating waves and choppy waters that led at least four boats to sink and others to crash into rocks, local officials said on Saturday.

“That was truly an exceptional number of boats,” said Kristen Dark, public information officer for the Travis County Sheriff’s Office, whose deputies patrol the lake. “We responded to multiple calls of boats in distress, several of them sank,” but there are no reports of fatalities or injuries.

Dark said the cause was under investigation, but there was no indication of an intentional act.

Lake Travis is an approximately 7,689 hectares or 17 kilometres impoundment on the Colorado river that is a popular spot for boating, fishing, swimming and other recreational activities.

Dark said additional officers had been deployed given expectations that the “Lake Travis Trump Boat Parade” would increase the number of vessels on the water, but that they still received a large number of distress calls.

“When they all started moving at once it generated wakes,” Dark said.

The event had been advertised on Facebook, calling for boats of “all shapes and sizes” to participate and for owners to decorate their vessels in “patriotic colors and fly as many Trump flags as she can handle.”

Meteorologist Paul Yura with the National Weather Service in Austin/San Antonio said there were were no storms in the area at the time and winds were generally 16 kilometers per hour (10 miles per hour) or less.

Despite the incidents, no injuries or medical emergencies were reported, said Christa Stedman, a spokeswoman for Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services.