The top of a tree that plummeted into Mead’s Quarry Lake at Ijams Nature Center can be seen near other fallen debris in this photo, which was taken approximately two hours after the tree and large boulders fell from the cliff.  J.J. Stambaugh/Hellbender Press

The rockslide — probably triggered by an intense thunderstorm with heavy rain that moved through the area several hours earlier — began just before 6 p.m. while Sebourn, a 21-year-old University of Tennessee student, was fishing along the shore. Scores of other people were swimming in the lake, little kids with floaties were bobbing up and down in the water, and other folks were paddling kayaks. 

Suddenly, the sounds of summer fun were silenced by a violent “boom” that seemed to split the very air and caused the quarry to tremble. 

 A red life jacket and a pink child’s floatie can be seen bobbing listlessly in the water after their owners were forced to leave them behind in the wake of a Saturday afternoon rockslide.  J.J. Stambaugh/Hellbender Press

“It was crazy,” Sebourn said. “It sounded like thunder. Then we saw a tree and a giant boulder falling off the side of the cliff.”

The rockslide displaced so much water that Sebourn estimated the waves that immediately radiated from the spot where the rock and tree plunged into the lake were at least 10 feet high.

“It was like when you sit down in the bathtub and all the water splashes up the sides, only this was happening in the entire quarry,” he said.

The waves swiftly lost height as they roared toward the frolickers on the opposite shore, but they were still at least 4 feet tall when they battered the beach and rocks while dozens of people scrambled for safety, Sebourn said. 

“The waves ripped everyone and everything off of the shoreline,” he said. “Just about everyone in the water lost all of their valuables — car and house keys, phones, wallets, etc.” 

Sebourn was especially struck by the sight of a young woman who rushed into the frothing water after her dog was swept off the beach.

“The dog got out, but she was in worse shape than the dog was,” he recalled, describing how she had been scraped by rocks while rescuing her canine friend.

Employees from River Sports Outfitters at Ijams leaped into canoes and paddled furiously around the swimming area to ensure that everyone got safely out of the water. 

The Knoxville Fire Department was dispatched to the scene at 5:54 p.m. and arrived three minutes later, according to Assistant Chief Mark Wilbanks.

Smaller rockslides continued to fall into the water after the first one, but authorities said they didn’t cause any additional problems. 

Two hours after the incident, various floats and other pieces of abandoned gear still bobbed in the water. More pieces of debris were strewn about the shore: towels, shoes, plastic toys and sunglasses that had been left behind when the crowd scurried away from the lake.

Ijams President Amber Parker was still at the scene as sundown approached, hanging signs to let the public know that the quarry and Tharp Trace Trail are off-limits for now. 

“If they want to hike the other nine miles of trails, they’re more than welcome to it,” Parker said after hanging the last CLOSED sign on some plastic yellow tape that was stretched across the quarry entrance. “But we have to close this and probably the parking lot.”

Parker said that one of the guests was possibly suffering from a fractured ankle while others suffered mild cuts, scrapes and contusions. 

It wasn’t clear if the other injured people sought medical attention after leaving the quarry. 

Parker said the violent thunderstorms that moved through the Knoxville area early Saturday morning were almost certainly to blame for the rockslide.

A team of geologists will inspect the quarry in the next few days and hopefully give their approval to reopen the lake, she said. 

“We are so proud of River Sports Outfitters,” she said. “They were on the scene immediately, making sure that everyone was out of the water. And the Fire Department was also wonderful. We’re really lucky to be working with such professional first responders.”

Sebourn also praised the response of the Fire Department and River Sports and Ijams personnel. “Ijams staff was immediately and sincerely helpful,” he said.