GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — Emergency crews have recovered the body of a teenage girl who drowned in the South Fork River in Gaston County Monday afternoon.
Rising water levels prevented the removal of the body until Tuesday evening just before 5:30 p.m.
The victim was presumed to be 16-year-old Makenna Warlick pending official identification, officials said.
According to Gaston County Police, the original call came just before 4 p.m. Monday. The caller said a female jumped off the High Shoals bridge into the river. It was later determined that three teenagers were swimming together in the river when the victim slipped and fell. She never resurfaced, according to police.
Two girls were immediately located and brought to safety, both uninjured.
"The South Fork River is a treacherous river," said Bill Melton with Gaston Emergency Mangement. "I've talked about that the last few weeks after other tragedies that we recently had. The current in some places can create riptides, we've got the water that flows over dams and causes its own problems. The water at the bottom is uneven and shallow at some places where it's ankle deep then you can't see because of the darkness of the water, then you're immediately over your head."
During a press conference Tuesday morning, Melton said rescue workers were "back at square one" from where they started Monday afternoon. A generator that was used to pump water out of the river was knocked out by lightning during Monday's storms. Melton said until the generator was back up and running, they wouldn’t be able to recover the victim's body.
"We can get to where the victim is at, essentially, but that waterflow and that water pressure keeps us from being able to recover that individual," Melton said.
Stick with NBC Charlotte for the latest on this developing story.