King County is warning of a log-jam hazard that has formed along the Cedar River, and advises boaters, rafters and others on the river to heed recently installed warning signs upstream of the hazard.

The hazard is on the right bank, just downstream from the Cedar Grove Road Bridge at River Mile 11. The hazard is visible from the Cedar Grove Natural Area.

Logs have accumulated at the entrance of a side channel along the Cedar River, at the Rainbow Bend Levee Removal and Floodplain Reconnection Project.

While the Cedar River channel itself is open at this time, the side channel has accumulated multiple spanning logs and is impassable to boaters, kayakers and others on the river, according to a news release from the county’s Department of Natural Resources.

King County Sheriff’s Office Marine Rescue Dive Unit recommends that people on the river in that vicinity stay to the left side to avoid the log jam, or exit river-left.

The King County sheriff has the authority to close stretches of a river if there’s a threat to public safety.

The safest river exit upstream of the logs is on the left bank, just downstream from the Cedar Grove Road bridge. This location features a section of shallow bank and a footpath that leads to Cedar Grove Road near its intersection with the Cedar River Trail.

King County Water and Land Resources Division employees and the King County Sheriff’s Office will continue monitoring these hazards to determine if further steps are necessary to address public safety concerns, according to the news release.

Information about all known boating hazards is available at kingcounty.gov/recreation/boating/rivers.

-from a press release