LEWISVILLE — Two teenage brothers drowned at Lewisville Lake Sunday evening, adding to the summer's deadly toll at North Texas lakes and pools.
The Richardson residents — 15-year-old Harly Parada and his 17-year-old brother Rony — had been swimming with a third brother at Lake Park when one of them began to struggle.
"They were out there with some people and the winds picked up," Lewisville Fire Department Battalion Chief Chris Sweet explained. "This little storm front came through, and it kind of just blew them out. One of them had trouble and the other one went out to help him."
WFAA meteorologist Steve McCauley said storms passing through Dallas County at that time produced sudden 30-40 mph wind gusts across Lewisville Lake. "That can add a very, very heavy chop to area lakes," McCauley said.
Both of the Parada boys disappeared from view. Dispatchers getting the distress call had to triangulate the cell phone signal to locate the cove where the teens had been swimming.
"The game warden had a boat on scene fairly quickly, and they have a side-scan sonar which takes a look at the bottom," Chief Sweet said. "They were able to get a pretty good positive location where they drop a couple of buoys in the water and we were able to send divers out to those buoys, and one of them was right on point."
Rony was pulled out by divers within 10 minutes after they arrived; he was pronounced dead at Medical Center of Lewisville a short time later. Harly was under water about 90 minutes before his body was recovered. Chief Sweet said the current had carried him farther out into the lake.
A female family member was taken away by stretcher after being overcome by emotion.
On Saturday, the body of a woman was found floating in Lewisville Lake near Oakland Park.
Last Tuesday, four-year-old twin brothers Mark and Luke Nguyen died after getting into a backyard pool at their grandmother's house in Arlington.
On June 17, a 38-year-old man drowned at a Lewisville Lake beach where there are no lifeguards.
On June 11, three-year-old Letaro Micky slipped away from his parents and drowned in a reservoir near Greenville.
One day earlier, three people died at Joe Pool Lake in water-related accidents.
WFAA photojournalist John Pellizzari contributed to this report.
