A routine moment aboard a boat can become a fall into the water. Stonewall Jackson Lake's U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operator highlighted that risk in a September 12 safety reminder aimed at boaters.
The operator's message focuses on avoiding an overboard fall while answering a call of nature. It also points to falls within a vessel and ejections as fatal boating hazards, citing the U.S. Coast Guard.
The national record gives that warning context: the Coast Guard's 2024 Recreational Boating Statistics lists 138 deaths in incidents whose primary incident type was a person falling overboard. That is a nationwide figure for 2024, not a count of deaths at Stonewall Jackson Lake.
The lake post is a general prevention reminder. It does not announce a local accident or establish current lake levels, ramp access or boating conditions.
Read the operator's September 12 reminder and the Coast Guard report, Table 16 on page 37.