PORT ANGELES — First responders reunited a woman with her dog after it was swept away by the swollen Bogachiel River on Tuesday, according to the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies said the woman, Heidi Wenberg of Forks, 43, attempted to save her dog, Jasmine, after it floated down the river.
Officials from the Sheriff’s Office, Forks Police Department, LaPush Police Department, Fire Districts No. 1 and 6, and Quileute Tribe responded to the call at about 11:30 a.m.
Wenberg told deputies she was playing with her dogs near the bridge when one of her dogs, Jasmine, jumped into the flooded river. She ran down river a short distance, grasped a tree and tried to reach out into the river to grab her dog, but was unable to do so.
Crews located the woman about three quarters of a mile downstream from the Bogachiel River Bridge on U.S. Highway 101. Her dog was found a short time later.
“Wenberg was cold and wet but was otherwise unharmed,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. “Wenberg was very thankful to be going home with both of her 7-year-old Boxer females named Jasmine and Mia.”
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.