2 rafters rescued from Lehigh River during storm

Two people who became stranded in the Lehigh River in Allentown during a severe storm Friday afternoon were rescued by first responders.

The pair was reported stranded around 4:30 p.m. in the river in the area of Canal Park, according to a news release from Allentown Fire Department Capt. Jonathan Hammel.

Reports indicated that the two had been rafting, but the storm created river conditions that made them struggle to get off the river. They eventually made their way to an island in the river, where they were stranded, Hammel said.

The location of the island where they were stranded wasn’t immediately clear, so the Bethlehem Fire Department joined the Allentown Fire Department in the water rescue.

Allentown firefighters launched two boats and soon found the stranded rafters and took them to safety. The pair was eventually transferred to a Bethlehem Fire Department boat and were taken to Bethlehem, according to Hammel.

Neither rafter was injured, and no injuries were reported to rescuers, Hammel said.

The rescue occurred as storms led to flash flooding across portions of the Lehigh Valley. The National Weather Service said around 4:30 p.m. that up to 1.5 inches of rain had fallen in a short amount of time, with as much as an additional 2.5 inches of rain possible by the time the rain was expected to end Friday evening.