Whitewater oopsy

An excavator tipped over in the Animas River around 12:30 p.m. Thursday while working at the new Whitewater Park at Smelter Rapid. “He was working in turbid water where it’s difficult to see,” said engineer Dan Woolley with S2O Engineering. “He grabbed a rock, and the material below his tracks shifted into a hole, shifting his machine’s center of gravity.” Woolley said no environmentally hazardous spills or injuries occurred. The driver was “definitely a little shaken up,” Woolley said, “but he continued working on the site the rest of the day.” Workers plan to use a crane to right the excavator. “We’re hoping to get it up yet tonight,” he said Thursday evening. “‘But it’s a difficult job, so all I can say is we’ll get it out as soon as possible.”