ELY, Minn. — Heavy rain across the state left hundreds of campers stranded at a campground in northern Minnesota on Tuesday night.
Already working on it flood damage After this week’s downpour, crews in St. Louis County are preparing for what could be an even busier weekend.
“We currently have about 43 roads that are closed because of water on the road that’s too deep for vehicles to drive through, or because there’s damage, culverts are washing things like that away,” said Jim Foldesi, St. Louis County. Director.
One of the roads washed out by the rain is the only road leading to the 200 campers and 80 staff members of Camp Du Nord, northwest of Ely.
Not only are the campers stuck on the site, they are also separated from each other.
“[It] Basically, we cut our site in half,” said Michel Tigan, Vice President of Adventure and Camp Operations, YMCA of the North. “So our campers are stranded on opposite sides of the site. And so we had to do our best to pivot and make sure that people who were in the programming areas on opposite sides of the property were comfortable and fed, because we didn’t want them walking across the waterways that separated our property .’
They have power, plenty of food and water, but those campers are still busy in the Northwoods until the road can reopen – hopefully by the weekend.
“Emergency communications have been set up with these people. We’re making sure they’re okay. If there is an emergency, there are contingency plans that the sheriff and rescue team have in place,” Foldesi said.
While stuck, campers are making the best of it.
“Last night people were already asking, ‘How can we help?’ And so our incredible facilities team members met this morning to think about some working groups that they could be involved with,” Tigan said “And so they also helped repair the trails and move a lot of the gravel and stone that has been pushed out of the way of our buildings by the water.”
Allen Henry
