NAPLES – Police say a pair of deputies plucked a woman from the Songo Locks on Wednesday morning moments before she could have been washed downstream and over a waterfall.

The drama began just before 8 a.m. when the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department was called to the locks, a canal surrounded by stone masonry, for a report of a kayaker in distress.

The kayaker was Carol Emmons, a 51-year-old vacationer who had overturned her boat and was clinging to a rope near a wall when deputies reached her.

Emmons told the deputies that she was cold and weak and that she could not hang on much longer, police said. At the time, the water level in the locks was up because of recent rains. Police said that also made for a harder current and colder water in which Emmons was struggling.

While other rescue crews were on the way, Cumberland County deputies John Cross and Howard Brown made an old-school bid to rescue Emmons. Cross leaned over the wall and got a grip on Emmons’ arm before she lost her grip.

Brown, meanwhile, had fetched a rescue rope from his cruiser. He fashioned a loop out of it and leaned in to get it around Emmons. Once she was secured, the deputies were able to use the rope to pull Emmons out of the fast-moving current. After she was out of the water, she was treated by Naples Fire and Rescue crews for hypothermia.

Investigators said Emmons had been kayaking with her daughter Zoie on the locks when they overturned and were thrown into the water. Zoie was able to get to shore on her own.

It was not immediately clear where the Emmonses are from.

The Songo Locks is a hand-operated lock system on the Songo River, which connects Sebago Lake with Brandy Pond.