Multiple agencies searching for missing 25-year-old at Lake Waccamaw

LAKE WACCAMAW, NC (WWAY) — UPDATED 9:30 A.M. TUESDAY

Search crews are using sonar, an underwater drone and a cadaver dog Tuesday as the search continues for a 25-year-old man missing at Lake Waccamaw.

WWAY spoke with Columbus County Sheriff Bill Rogers around 9 a.m. Tuesday. Rogers said the cadaver dog alerted to an area of the lake Tuesday morning, prompting crews to concentrate sonar searches there.

“We’ve got sonar running the area,” Rogers said.

Rogers said a team from Union County was also preparing to deploy an underwater drone in the same area. Wind was creating rough conditions on the lake Tuesday morning, with whitecaps forming on the water.

The search began Monday after the man’s empty kayak was spotted on the lake.

Rogers said the man had been kayaking during the Labor Day weekend and had been on the lake for several days. On Monday, he stopped at Lynn’s Place, a waterfront convenience store. around 4 p.m. before leaving to head back toward a home near the lake.

Around 4:45 p.m., boaters spotted the empty kayak about 300 yards from a boat landing, Rogers said. They went to check it and called 911 after finding no one in it.

The man’s belongings were still inside the kayak.

Rogers said the man’s family has been notified and was at the boat landing Tuesday morning. Authorities have not released his name.

Search crews worked into Monday night before stopping around 1:30 a.m. Rogers said divers entered the water at three locations where sonar produced possible hits, but the objects were determined to be tires.

The search resumed Tuesday morning.

Rogers said the wind has made determining a search area more difficult because crews do not know exactly where the man may have entered the water or how far the kayak could have drifted.

Additional agencies are providing resources. Rogers said New Hanover County Sheriff Ed McMahon was sending a boat equipped with sonar, while Brunswick County Sheriff Brian Chism was sending a helicopter to assist.

The Columbus County Sheriff’s Office previously said agencies from Columbus and Brunswick counties were taking part in the search, along with deputies, search and rescue crews, boats and helicopters.

The lake is closed to recreational activity during the search. Authorities are asking people to stay off the water so boats do not further churn the lake and interfere with search operations.

Rogers is also asking anyone with video or security cameras pointed toward the lake between the campground and boat landing to contact investigators.

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission boat ramp on Canal Cove Road remains closed until further notice.

“We don’t want the water churned up,” Rogers said.