We normally do the river a couple of times on Saturday.  However, as we prepared to enter the river for our second trip, the river was closed down.  We ended up going back to the hotel and hanging out in the pool.

Click here to open photos from the pool

What was going on at the river?  Here are the details........

A bomb scare led to the evacuation of the Comal River and parts of Schlitterbahn and San Antonio Street for two hours Saturday afternoon.

New Braunfels Police Department Sgt. Chris Snyder said the department received information at 2:48 p.m. that a man in his mid 20s, possibly of Middle Eastern descent, threw two backpacks over a fence in an area crowded with people near the San Antonio Street Bridge and ran and jumped into the river.

Snyder said a visitor in the Comal River reported what he saw to a law enforcement officer who passed on the information to police.

Snyder said that due to the suspicious circumstances, police cleared all tubers and swimmers in the Comal River, closed San Antonio Street at the Comal River Bridge and emptied the Surfenburg portion of Schlitterbahn.

Snyder said the department’s goal was to clear anyone within 500 feet of the area.

“Schlitterbahn security worked great with us and luckily we had the luxury of having officers on the rivers,” he said. “Otherwise, we would have had to do this with the six patrol officers on duty.”

During a search of the area, police located two backpacks in the area where the witness suggested. Because the NBPD does not have a bomb squad, a bomb squad from the San Antonio Police Department was called in.

The SAPD officers checked both backpacks and determined they had no explosives. New Braunfels police later determined the backpacks held only clothing and shoes.

Snyder said the owner of one backpack was located and he was not of Middle Eastern descent. No charges were filed.