The MR340 wrapped up at St. Charles on Friday, and most of the paddlers who spent four days on the Missouri River made it home fine, tired and sunburned. But zoom out to the state as a whole this year, and the water hasn’t been nearly that forgiving.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol says it responded to 27 drownings between January 1 and July 30 this year — an 80% jump over the same stretch of 2025. Total water fatalities, which include boating accidents and other water-related deaths, are up 36%, to 30 people statewide, according to ABC 17 News‘s reporting on the Patrol’s numbers. The one detail that stands out most: of those 30 fatalities, only one person was confirmed to have been wearing a life jacket.
That’s the kind of statistic that matters more here than in most places. We’re a river town. Cooper’s Landing, 15 miles downstream, is one of the closest public access points to the water on this whole stretch, and between the Katy Trail overlooks, the boat ramps, and a race like the MR340 running right past our front door every summer, a lot of area residents are near the Missouri River a lot more than the average Missourian.
The Patrol didn’t point to one single cause for the increase, but its safety guidance lines up with what boating-safety officials have been saying for years. Currents, drop-offs, and submerged debris make the Missouri a different animal than a backyard pool or a calm lake — and the Big Muddy in particular is known for undertow near its wing dikes and revetments, the kind of hazard that isn’t visible from the bank. The U.S. Coast Guard’s boating safety office puts it plainly: most drownings happen on nice days, when people are tempted to skip the life jacket because the water looks calm. Their advice is to wear one at all times when a boat’s underway, not just keep one on board — federal law already requires it for anyone under 13.
The Highway Patrol’s own recommendations, per ABC 17: never swim alone, don’t drink alcohol around water, keep constant eyes on kids near the river, and know your own health conditions before you get in. If someone is struggling in the water, the Patrol says the right move is to reach or throw — a pole, a branch, a flotation device — rather than swim out after them, which is how a one-person emergency turns into two.
None of this is a reason to stay off the river. It’s a reason to treat it like what it is: a working, moving river, not a swimming pool with a current view. A life jacket in the truck, one buddy who knows where you’re headed, and a little respect for how fast calm-looking water can turn go a long way toward making sure your next trip to the water’s edge ends the same way it started.
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