Reactions are pouring in online to news of a new water park set to open at Lake Lanier this summer that will feature Georgia’s first waterslide coaster.
Officials and crews broke ground on the Apocalypso coaster on Wednesday. The attraction is a four-slide tower and the centerpiece attraction at Fins Up Water Park, which is opening May 4 at Margaritaville at Lanier Islands.
“This monumental investment marks the most significant expansion of Margaritaville at Lanier Islands in decades, adding Georgia’s largest waterslide complex to the water park, boasting an impressive 15 slides in total in 2024,” park officials wrote.
Many online weren’t sold on the idea of a water park at Lake Lanier, given its history. It has been the site of numerous drownings and deadly water accidents over the years, so it’s gained a reputation among locals for being “haunted.”
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources reported that more than 210 people died at Lake Lanier between 1994 and 2010 in drownings and boating accidents.
Of the roughly 40 drownings that happened in Georgia waters in 2023, eight of them were at Lake Lanier, making that year one of the deadliest years on record for the lake. One of the victims was even electrocuted before he died.
There were six drownings in 2022, four in 2021, seven in 2020, and eight in 2019 and 2018, according to Channel 2 News.
Tameka Foster, the ex-wife of singer and songwriter Usher, has previously called for officials to adopt “drain, clean, restore and improve safety measures” at Lake Lanier. Foster’s son, Kile Glover, who was Usher’s stepson, died in a jet ski-related incident at the lake in 2012.
Lake Lanier is a man-made lake formed in 1956 when the Chattahoochee River was dammed for flood control and power generation. It also provides drinking water for nearly five million people in North Georgia.
The lake sits atop what was once the site of a thriving Black community…
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