The body of a two-year-old was recovered Monday, June 10 at Cummins Falls after fast-rising waters caused an evacuation of the state park Sunday afternoon, June 9.

The two-year-old, Steven Pierce of Eddyville, Kentucky, was visiting the park with his parents when waters rose from a safe level in roughly two minutes requiring the staff to evacuate at approximately 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Cummins Falls reportedly had been closed by officials on Friday and Saturday due to flood waters but was reopened Sunday after it had receded.

Pierce was recovered at approximately 7:15 a.m. Monday and pronounced dead at the scene. His body was found less than a half mile away from where he was last seen in the Blackburn Fork River.

“To our knowledge at this time, the family was exiting the gorge as the water was rising, they attempted to cross the river, and again to our knowledge, while they were crossing the river, they were swept away,” said J.R. Tinch, assistant chief ranger with Tennessee State Parks.

Tinch said that Pierce was not wearing a life jacket during the incident.

The search for Pierce was called off Sunday night after 64 people, including Pierce’s dad, Curtis, were assisted by park officials out of the gorge area that officials say flooded within just a couple of minutes. Fourteen people were evacuated through swiftwater or rope rescue.

The search for Pierce began again at 6 a.m. Monday.

Following the death of two individuals in 2017 during a similar rapid rise in water, the park was reported to have been working on a monitoring system.

Officials confirmed during Monday’s press conference that cameras, gauges and a warning system are still being researched but have not been implemented.

“From Jackson County, we would just like to extend a thank you to each agency that responded out there to assist,” said Derek Woolbright, Jackson County EMA spokesperson. “We can’t say enough about the great people we work with here in the state and how willing they are to help us. We’d also like to ask you to join us in sending condolences and respects to Steven’s family.”

Rescue teams from Putnam, Jackson, White, Cumberland, Robertson, Macon, Monroe and Bledsoe counties and the city of Lavergne came to rescue those stranded by rising waters at Cummins Falls Sunday and to search for the missing toddler, along with the Tennessee Highway Patrol helicopter.

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Following the third death in two years, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation is reportedly conducting an investigation to determine why the monitoring system was not already in place in Cummins Falls State Park.

Tennessee Tech’s earth sciences professor Evan Hart was reported to have begun working on the system, with Tech professor’s Joseph Asante, Tania Datta and Alfred Kalyanapu, after two women died in 2017.

However, the system is still not in place.

“TDEC will keep the falls and gorge area of the park closed until this matter has been investigated as well as the details surrounding the June 9 incident,” said Kim Schofinski, TDEC deputy communications director. “Trails leading to the falls and the gorge will also be closed. Trails at the park that do not lead to the gorge will remain open.

In 2017, Hart told the Herald-Citizen that the system would operate automatically.

“They’ll be connected through a cell phone modem. We’ll have them on the creek above the falls,” Hart previously said. “Anytime the water changes, we’ll have a one to two hour warning period.”

Schofinski said on Wednesday, June 12 that TDEC has approved a concept to set up a flood alert system.

“We are currently working to procure the equipment for the system while determining the operational use and monitoring needed,” Schofinski wrote.

Area lawmakers Paul Bailey, Cameron Sexton, Ryan Williams and John Mark Windle sent a letter to TDE asking the department for prompt installation of the warning system.

“In 2017, your department announced plans to install a warning system at Cummins Falls State Park to better monitor the gorges rising water level,” the letter states. “It is now June 2019, another life has been lost, and the warning system has still not been installed.”

“After the last death, it was our understanding that a system would be implemented in an effort to prevent further deaths. Why has this warning system not been installed at Cummins Falls State Park?”

Williams did not return calls for comment.

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Jamestown Regional Medical Center is temporarily closed.

Fentress County Executive Jimmy Johnson said the facility closed at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 13.

A photo of a sign taped to the hospital’s front door circulated on social media late Thursday. The sign indicated the closure would be temporary, and JRMC would announce through the media when it would reopen.

The JRMC website was still up and running, though no announcement about the closure was on it. Parent company Rennova Healthcare also made no announcement of the closure beyond the note on the hospital door.

Johnson said he spoke to JRMC’s new CEO Michael Alexander Thursday evening.

Johnson said Alexander told him the closure was due to three things: the CMS payment stoppage, a lack of emergency supplies and a problem with liability insurance.

“They can’t have people working in the building that aren’t being paid,” Johnson said.

Thursday evening, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) stopped reimbursing JRMC for patient care. According to a CMS release, that’s because Rennova failed to put a governing board in place to set a plan for quality insurance performance improvement.

Rennova Healthcare bought JRMC a year ago. Since then, there’s been widely reported financial problems, including problems paying the electricity bill.

Last month, the hospital closed over an unpaid IRS bill. Then two weeks later, problems paying a reported $4 million bill to vendors forced JRMC to go on diversion, refusing emergency room patients.

At that time, Johnson said some employees reported that their paychecks bounced.

With JRMC closed, Johnson said the Fentress County ambulance service has to take patients to hospitals in Crossville or Cookeville. According to GoogleMaps, Crossville is about a 50-minute drive from Jamestown, while Cookeville is about an hour.

That’s adding a whole lot more time and road miles on the Fentress ambulances. And making them unable to help anyone else for at least two hours.

“It’s one of the things that’s happening in rural counties,” Johnson said. “We’re just trying to pick up the pieces.”

Rennova also owns the Jellico and Oneida hospitals. There is no word on whether the problems at JRMC also exist at those facilities.