The United States finally invaded Canada on Sunday, although the trespassing flotilla of dinghies, inner tubes and rafts was hardly the kind of invasion force one might expect.
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Canadian officials rescued about 1,500 people Sunday after strong westerly winds whipped their inflatable rafts off course during an annual float trip on the St. Clair River between MI and Ontario and sent them across the border, according to media reports.
“It got insane out there but it worked out”, Sarnia Police tweeted late Sunday afternoon as the final floaters were accounted for and taken home.
Scott Clarke said between 1,200 and 1,500 floaters landed in Sarnia. Police say a bus service, Sarnia Transit, transported 1,500 people back to the United States.
Sottosanti says all the stray boaters were accounted for in the end.
The driver, a 32-year-old man, was pulled over for improper plates near Huron Boulevard and Tennessee Avenue in Marysville about 8:30 p.m. Buckmaster said the driver then fled to the roundabout on Range and Griswold roads along the border of Port Huron and Kimball townships. It occurs “at the height of the shipping season”, the groups said, and endangers participants and slows commercial operations.
About 5,000 people took part in the annual event and more than a thousand of those floating along the river were blown off course by strong winds and ended up in another country.
The U.S. Coast Guard shuts down the river between Lighthouse Beach in Port Huron and Chrysler Beach in Marysville for the event.
“They have the right to do that, and we have little mechanism to stop it”, said Mike Brown of the Canadian Coast Guard.
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Several others thanked Canada for its hospitality and help in the post’s comments section.
