NATCHEZ — The Adams County Search and Rescue team assisted a Vidalia company Sunday to get a houseboat river-worthy again.

Adams County Emergency Management Director Robert Bradford said the 34-foot houseboat was docked near the boat ramp at Silver Street.

When the water level dropped faster than expected, the front half of the boat struck ground, pushing the nose up and the back down, said boat owner Barry Bequette. With the back half of the boat partially lower in the water, the river was able to come in through the engine breathing holes.

Bequette said the back half of the boat was partially underwater when he got back to it, and he was unable to pump the water out and called 911.

Bradford said Search and Rescue assisted Vidalia Dock and Storage, which blocked off the water and pumped it out, in getting the boat back above the river.

Bequette, who lives in Natchez, bought the 1969-model boat recently in Illinois and put in 1,058 miles down the Illinois and Mississippi rivers to arrive in Natchez, where he plans to keep the boat.

Bequette said he plans to renovate the boat into a passenger boat to take out on the river for tours sometime in the future, but now he has additional renovation work ahead of him after the engine flooded.