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.