A 7-year-old swept into the Atlantic Ocean at Acadia National Park on Sunday by Hurricane Bill's waves was pronounced dead after being pulled from the cold waters, while 13 others also hit by the massive wave were injured with a variety of broken bones and bruises.
The unidentified girl was among three park visitors washed into the ocean. There were reports that two others also were missing in the ocean, but Acadia Chief Ranger Stuart West couldn't confirm them.
“We don’t know. We received a report that as many as five people were washed into the ocean, we can only confirm that three were," Ranger West said.
The prospect of watching high seas smash into the coast of Maine brought thousands to the park Sunday. An estimated 10,000 visitors were gathered along the park shoreline near the popular Thunder Hole, a crack in the park's granite foundation that features spectacular wave explosions during high seas, around noon when one of the waves washed over those gathered to watch.
“We’ve had seas the result of Hurricane Bill between 12 and 15 feet. That's a big attraction to everyone in the area, seeing the waves crashing into shore," said the chief ranger. “At the same time we had those folks washed into the ocean, we had 11 other injuries. A dislocated shoulder, a broken leg, broken ankle and a broken wrist, I believe.”
The incident spurred an air, land, and sea search for the missing. While park rangers searched the shoreline for the 7-year-old and any others who might have been knocked into the ocean, the Coast Guard had a 47-foot cruiser searching the waters, while overhead a helicopter and Falcon jet were also searching, Ranger West said. The Maine Marine Patrol also had a boat participating in the search.
Soon after the visitors were swept into the ocean, Coast Guard rescuers were able to pull a 12-year-old girl and the father of the 7-year-old to safety about 150 yards from shore, he said. There were unconfirmed reports that the man had jumped into the ocean in a bid to save his daughter, said the ranger. The two were taken to a Bangor, Maine, hospital and reportedly were doing OK, said Ranger West.
Sometime later the Coast Guard searchers spotted the young girl.
Immediately after the incident park authorities closed Ocean Drive to the public. Rangers then began the task of trying to determine whether there were any vehicles whose owners were missing.
"We’re trying to do what we can to determine if those two other phantom folks actually fell in the water or not," he said. "We're trying to do a count of the vehicles to see if there’s an unaccounted owner or owners to determine if someone is missing."
While the day had dawned cloudy at Acadia, by afternoon it was mostly sunny with temperatures approaching 80 degrees. The ocean temperature, though, was a brisk 55 degrees, according to the chief ranger.
Comments
I have been at Thunder Hole during conditions like this. It amazes me how stupid people can be. They will climb over and around gates that have been closed to keep people back. Just to get to the top of a rock at the edge of the ocean. They can clearly see the waves crashing all around them. I feel bad about the 7 year old. She did not know any better. ...
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We were at Thunder Hole yesterday. We left about 45 minutes before the tragedy at about the time the rangers closed off the walkway to Thunder Hole. There were still hundreds of people who were below the level of the walkway on the adjacent cliffs. The rangers made no attempt to tell them to get off of those cliffs even though they had closed off the walkway and even though those people were within one hundred feet from the top of the walkway. This is one of the most blatant examples of why the Park Service should NOT have blanket immunity from suit in situations where people are hurt or killed in a park. When the Park Service's employees are obviously negligent, there should be accountabilty.
As he cleared people from the walkway, one ranger said "That's all I can do." To me it was obvious that people should have been told to leave the cliffs and that a few more rangers should have been assigned to the area to deal with the crowd. The waves were unpredictable and some had already reached the tops of the cliffs where people were standing. I guarantee that at least some of those people probably felt that, if there was any real danger, the rangers would have told them to get off the rocks.
Can anyone say that a seven year old girl would know that she was in danger on those cliffs? If the rangers had told her father to move, I am certain that he would have. People were quite cooperative with the rangers when they closed the walkway.
I love the parks and I respect the rangers and the difficult work they do. However, they - and more importantly - their supervisors in the Park Service - need to be held accountable when an imminently preventable tragedy like this occurs. Immunity breeds negligence. I know that we will hear the same old song from some people - "people need to be held accountable for their own stupidity and bad judgment." Ask yourself these questions: First, do you really want to blame a seven year old for "stupidity and bad judgment"? Second, do you realize that not everyone understands the dangers of nature as well as those of us who frequently avail ourselves of the wonders of the parks? Should the penalty for their inexperience be death? Should the penalty for stupidity be death? These questions will really haunt me, particularly because I saw how easily this tragedy could have been prevented.
I think common sense should prevail, the 7 year old had a parent there. It is indicated at all time in Acadia that you must go on the ledges and rocks at your own risk.
My wife and I and child were at Thunder Hole at about 11 am yesterday as well. There were clearly marked warnings not to proceed any closer to view the waves due to dangerous conditions. I agree with Mick (and both my wife and I were surprised) that there were NO park rangers there at all when we were there. There were many people far too close to the edge, seemingly thrilled by getting splashed by them. IDIOTS!! I fault first and foremost the parent(s) of the little girl, the Park Service at Acadia for no presence, and also everyone who was stupid to ignore the posted warnings and snuggle as close as possible to the waves, giving some poor souls the illusion of safety.
Mick, I'm sure that you are definitely feeling the sting of being so close to something so tragic, and I understand your assertion that the rangers should have done something more in clearing the area of tourists. But one thing that you must realize is that we, as individuals, have a responsibility to ourselves and to those around us to make our own judgments as to levels of imminent danger and approaching doom. Sometimes accidents just happen. At the very moment that this tragedy happened, we were in another Federally-run place - the Plum Island Refuge in Newburyport, Massachusetts, where the waves were tremendous. We were wading and occasionally body-surfing, and we had 2 kids there with us, and we let them do a little bit of wading and surfing as well. But here's the key, we only let them do a LITTLE bit of that, and only let them go out a very short way, because the surf was huge and the undertow was powerful. There were signs as we entered the park telling us about the undertow and that we were only to swim AT OUR OWN RISK.
When will we stop laying blame on others instead of accepting the fact that individuals are responsible for their own decisions and actions? If my nephew had gotten swept out to sea and drowned, heaven forbid, I wouldn't be blaming Fish and Wildlife for allowing us to be there. I would be blaming myself for being the one for letting "stupidity and bad judgment" rule my decision to let him go too far out. And if not everyone understands the dangers of nature as much as frequent Park-goers, then where does that leave us? Who knows the most about rogue waves? A marine biologist? An oceanographer? I'd lay money down that even they couldn't predict that a single giant wave that's bigger than all others around it would approach the shore and take out that family.
But the inherent risk was there - even when you were standing there on the shore yourself Mick, and it's a risk that we all take in going to a place like that. You said yourself that the waves were unpredictable and that some of them were reaching the tops of the cliffs where the people were. At what point does common sense enter into the picture? We can't take the risk and then after something bad happens say that it's someone else's fault. It's a horrible accident! It's a rogue wave that came in and swept people away and this poor little girl was horribly taken from her family. It's terrible, and it's very sad, but it's NOT the fault of any individuals at the Park. They closed the area off when they felt the wave action was getting worse but they can't be held accountable for an individual wave's size that came in just after that.
The moment this incident happened, the Plum Island Refuge where we were, was closed and I think that sets a bad knee-jerk reaction precedent. No one could go into the Wildlife Refuge (even to bird-watch, let alone go onto the beach) because there was a tragic death on the coast of Maine 4 hours north of there. The Feds, in effect, took common sense and free decision-making and responsibility out of our hands and simply closed everything. Hey, it's what they felt was the right thing to do at the time, and I respect that. But again, it eliminates a certain amount of freedom for those of us who are willing to make our own choices about our own personal safety and the safety of those around us, especially our little ones.
Everybody sues everybody these days, and it's killing us. A drunk driver isn't responsible for the 2 people he runs over - nope - it's the guy who sold him the alcohol. A person isn't at fault when they slip on the ice in front of City Hall and break there leg during a snowstorm - nope - it's the City's fault for not throwing salt down soon enough.
Park Service employees are stewards of the Parks they work at. They are not baby-sitters and they are not the parents of all who enter! We are our own keepers, and we need to step up to the plate and take responsibility for ourselves and our loved ones. I do not for one minute blame the poor father of that child, but there was a risk present on that walkway where he was standing and sadly nature prevailed and was too powerful for everyone who was there. It is not the Park's fault! I'm proud to sing that song of "people need to be held accountable for their own stupidity and bad judgment." I would go one step further and say that sometimes even judgment doesn't enter it, and accidents simply happen!
You are completely incorrect with your account of what happened. I was there when it did happen and the tourist were acting ... ignorant..... The park rangers were attempting to tell the idiotic tourist to get the hell off the rocks and some people were blatantly ignoring them to "get a picture". One ranger had to chase a person through the woods to get them back on the road and the guy was laughing....but he "got his picture".
It is the responsibility of an ADULT parent to get their kids off the rocks when they were told SEVERAL times to get away from the storm surge. Who the hell would put their kids in harms way like that? What were they thinking? Anyone .... could see this was a very dangerous situation and to get the heck out of the way... SO MANY PEOPLE were not listening and the thousands of people on the park loop rd well out numbered the rangers. They were adults and they were told....so don't blame this ... on the rangers....it was bedlam and the rangers did everything they could short of physically removing people or arresting them.
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Steve - You are so correct in everything you said. Your post should be nailed to the entrance of every Park.
Steve, exactly.
The biggest concept that needs to be grappled with here is that nature is dangerous and unpredictable. We live by this idea that it is not our job to keep us safe in situations we don't fully comprehend. It is indeed dreadful that a small child was lost and her lose should not be trivialized in this debate. What her lose shows us evermore, is that individuals are responsible for the dangers they expose themselves to. No, the park rangers should not simply ignore the dangers represented by the waters and I've seen their efforts in countless places to inform of those dangers. It is not their job to line up in right gear with clubs, tears gas and rubber bullets marching along clearing the rocks of oblivious wave-watchers. Nature is truly powerful. That power draws most of us out of our little dark boxes called apartments to see it, feel it, and learn from it. That doesn't mean that most of us ignore the dangers of even an innocent day hike in the woods. My 3 year old niece isn't old enough to know that just because the water is way down there right NOW...it might not stay that way. The knowing part is my job. The rangers do their job, I do mine and hopefully no one gets hurts. Blaming the park rangers for that little girls death or any of the other injuries from this weekend is like blaming the rangers for the twisting of my ankle on a tree root while I was hiking. They should have know better than to leave tree roots in the forest.