Day 5 of searching for missing city employee Darrious Stephens ends, Flint River waters rising

ALBANY, Ga. – After days of searching the Flint River for 36-year-old Darrious Stephens, the Albany Fire Department could potentially be facing trouble as the search continues with the water levels of the Flint River continuing to rise.

We met with Stephens’ friend of more than 10 years, Al Watts who even worked with Stephens in Albany Public Works for a decade…

He’s understandably upset that progress has not been made in finding Darrious.

“Even from the start of this investigation, I just felt like they’ve been dragging their feet with no sense of urgency. And, he’s in the water, it does no good to do an air search to the river if the body is in the water. I feel like somebody should have made the call and they got trained people down here to actually search the river…” said Al Watts, friend of Darrious Stephens.

And, late Friday afternoon, Albany city leaders and first responders spoke about the ongoing search for Stephens…

Including the rising level of the Flint River posing a problem for search and rescue.

“With the continuous rise of the river, we have safety concerns in place where we are not putting boats in the water, unless we have an identification, in which we would respond to credible information,” said Chief Cedric Scott, Albany Fire Department.

According to the National Weather Service, the current height of the Flint River is around 22 feet, with it reaching its peak crest Saturday evening at around 26 feet…

Leaving first responders unable to send boats out on to the river out of safety concerns.

“….Putting any boats on the water, or any dive activity would be prohibited until we hope to take a review next Wednesday, hopefully we get the level to fall below the action stage of 16 feet. At that time we’ll begin to review our options as far as putting boats in the water and dive into the area that Mr. Stephens was last seen,” said Chief Scott.

In the meantime though, both first responders and Stephens’ friend are asking people to keep Darrious’ family in their thoughts.

“We’re gonna keep positive thoughts on locating Darrious and everybody continuing to pray for his family. Pray for me, pray for all his friends and everything. But, right now, we’re just gonna to try and continue to pray, and continue to have positive thoughts and hearing about them locating him,” said Al Watts, friend of Darrious Stephens.

As friends and family of Stephens continue to look for answers and first responders will continue to look for him once the water levels are back down to a searchable level.

We hope to have an update from first responders once the search is able to safely resume.

Brian Roche reporting.

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