No injuries were reported after an overturned canoe was found in the Lehigh River in Walnutport on Monday afternoon.

Borough fire Chief Michael Wentz said the fire department received a call at 2:20 p.m. for a water rescue on the Lehigh River.

“They informed me that there was a capsized canoe on the tip of one of the islands just north of the Lehigh River bridge,” Wentz said. “We found it right away; it was a red canoe basically on the island. We looked with binoculars and we didn’t see anything.”

Wentz added, “We immediately checked with all the communication centers, there was no one reported missing. At that point we had our boat ready, but we did not put it in the water because the water level is still way up and the water yesterday was moving over 9,000 feet per second.”

Wentz said at that point he didn’t want to put the boats in the water unless someone was confirmed to be missing.

“Nobody else needed to be put in jeopardy,” he said.

The Lehigh County Special Operations Drone Team has a truck outfitted with several drones and were contacted.

“They came with their truck and a crew; they were here in like 15-20 minutes,” he said. “They put drones up, were able to take pictures of the canoe, scanned, they found nothing.

“At that point, we determined there is nothing there, and that was it. We called it and everybody went home.”

He said they remained on scene for about two hours.

Also assisting at the scene were the Walnutport Police Department and Northern Valley Ambulance Association.

Wentz said that at about 8 p.m. Monday, he got a call from police “That a gentleman from Topton said the canoe was his and he was on the river and he had capsized somewhere between Parryville and Bowmanstown. He actually was able to get out and he had tied his canoe and he was going to come out and get it, and it broke free and we got called.”

Wentz said it’s beyond him why the person was out, considering the state of the river.

“Why would anybody in their right mind be on the river the way it’s moving? That is just an accident waiting to happen,” he said.

Wentz said his “hat’s off” to the Lehigh County Special Operations Drone Team, and encouraged people not to participate in any such activity at this time.

“People need to be reminded the way the river is in depth and flowing, it is not the time to do any kind of recreational activity,” he said. “It should not be done at this time.”