May 13, 2024
The 24th Annual Neches River Rendezvous, which was scheduled to be held on May 18, 2024, has been cancelled due to unsafe river conditions. The Neches River Rendezvous is a family-friendly 10-mile paddling adventure down the Neches River. This is the first year that the Angelina & Neches River Authority was scheduled to host the event. It was previously hosted by the Lufkin/Angelina County Chamber of Commerce. Held for the first time in 1997, it quickly became a popular annual event, with up to 300 people participating, however, due to Covid-19, weather conditions, and supply chain issues, the event had not been held since 2018. “With unpredictable weather patterns in East Texas, it’s tricky trying to schedule a date for an event of this nature. There’s a short window of opportunity to host this event between weather extremes, flooding events and high heat indexes, so timing this event has proven to be challenging. By the time river conditions improve to a safe level, it will likely be too hot to hold the event, especially since most participants are novice paddlers,” Kelley Holcomb, the Authority’s general manager said. “While we are disappointed that we have to cancel the event in our first year, safety is our first priority.” At the time of this release, the National Weather Service Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Services indicated that it could be weeks before river depth and discharge velocities decrease to safe enough levels for recreational activity. Both the event launch area, the Neches River at Anderson Crossing, between Houston and Cherokee counties, and the takeout area, the Neches River at Highway 7, in Angelina County are experiencing discharges of 20,200 cfs (cubic feet per second). To put that into perspective, between the launch and takeout areas, the river is flowing at about 151,096 gallons per […]