I wanted to go for a swim in Mississippi that afternoon

[alpacinou]

When they open the dam valves, the flow and volume of the river becomes stronger. The water then carries a lot of tree branches from its banks and they float on the water. Is there a specific word for them?

https://media.istockphoto.com/photo...n-the-shore-the-picture-id911297986?s=612x612

I want to express this. Is this okay?

I wanted to go for a swim in Mississippi that afternoon. Upstream, they must have opened the dam valves for a discharge because the volume of the river had increased. It was mighty yet gentle. On its way, it had washed tree branches and soil off its banks, and those branches were floating on the surface of the muddy water.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

When they open the dam valves, the flow and volume of the river become stronger. The water then carries a lot of tree branches from its banks, and they float on the water. Is there a specific word for them?

https://media.istockphoto.com/photo...n-the-shore-the-picture-id911297986?s=612x612

I want to express this. Is this okay?

I wanted to go for a swim in the Mississippi that afternoon. Upstream, they must have opened the dam valves for a discharge because the volume of the river had increased. It was mighty yet gentle. On its way, it had washed tree branches and soil off its banks, and those branches were floating on the surface of the muddy water.

I'd just call them branches.

Also, you might like looking up detritus, flotsam, and jetsam.

 

[alpacinou]

I'd just call them branches.

Also, you might like looking up detritus, flotsam, and jetsam.

Thank you Charlie. I want to stylistically improve it. Do you have suggestions for making the underlined parts better and avoid the repetition of "branches"?

I wanted to go for a swim in the Mississippi that afternoon. Upstream, they must have opened the dam valves for a discharge because the volume of the river had increased. It was mighty yet gentle. On its way, it had washed tree branches and soil off its banks, and those branches were floating on the surface of the muddy water.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Instead of "the volume of the river had increased," you could say, "the water rose."