I have no actual knowledge of the situation beyond what has been posted, but
a couple of things caught my eye:

First was they had supposedly successfully gone over the dam before.
Secondly, the article said they "were swept beyond the boil line but were
pitched out of the kayak in the turbulence".

Not to diminish the danger of low head dams in general, but it sounds to me
like this particular dam (at least at this water level) may not be of the
really lethal variety. It sounds like they got through what should be the
really dangerous part of the dam and came out of their boat just after due
to "turbulence" (white water?).

In a typical low head situation, PFDs won't save you--they'll just make it
easier to find your body (assuming it stays on). In this case, it sounds
like PFDs would have saved lives.

Can anyone who actually has seen this dam clarify the reports?

-Paul