Dozens of campers stranded by a washed-out bridge at a Connecticut state park
More than 40 people had to be evacuated from Kettletown State Park amid extreme flooding in Connecticut.
Transcript
00:00Now, last night's heavy rain and flooding trapped more than 40 campers at Connecticut's Kettletown State Park.
00:10Mason Trumbull is the Deputy Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
00:16Thank you for joining us this morning, Mason.
00:19Yes, good morning.
00:20Tell us a little bit about the flooding impacts and rescue operations at the park.
00:25How did the campers get to safety?
00:28Absolutely, well, as you said, we had 43 campers plus three of our state park staff
00:33who were stranded when a bridge washed out yesterday in the flash floods.
00:39And a great example of just multiple state agencies coming together
00:44to work hard to get an evacuation plan put together in a really short time frame
00:48with really tough conditions.
00:50And the resulting evacuation required us to get five rescue boats
00:56and come in from the other side of the campground across the Houston-Tonant River,
00:59across Lakeshore, about a mile boat ride,
01:01but we were able to evacuate all 43 plus the three park staff that evening
01:07despite difficult rainy conditions.
01:10All right, any injuries and is the park closed today?
01:14Yes, safe to say the park is closed.
01:17We still have vehicles on the inside that we are working on setting up temporary structures
01:21to be able to get those vehicles out as soon as possible.
01:25And no injuries reported, thankfully, great results
01:28and glad to have a good wrap-up from a dangerous event.
01:33And what are the safety messages that you're sending to people this week
01:37as we prepare for a bit more rain before things dry out?
01:42Yes, any water, no matter how shallow or how benign,
01:46but stay out of standing or moving water.
01:48And please avoid these areas where there are closures, including Pendleton State Park.
01:54And let me ask you a final question.
01:56Do you have any concerns over the next couple of days?
01:59Of course, we are forecasting more rain in the area today.
02:04Yes, the governor has activated the Emergency Operations Center
02:07and we'll be monitoring the rainfall
02:10and making sure that we're getting a safety message out as we need to throughout the day.
02:14All right, Mason Trumbull, Deputy Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy
02:19and Environmental Protection, thank you again for joining us.