A long-running mass inner tube event in MI ended unexpectedly Sunday with a trip to Canada, with so many Americans blown across the maritime border by wind that Canadian officials had to set up a temporary screening area for the inadvertent immigrants.
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Participants in dinghies were blown from the American side of the St. Clair River, north east of Detroit, Mich. across the Canadian side of the river and onto the shores of Sarnia, Ontario, where numerous Americans found themselves without passports or the ability to get home on their own.
Launderville said the event had no official organiser and posed “significant and unusual hazards” due to the river’s fast-moving current and participants’ lack of life jackets.
Police say a bus service, Sarnia Transit, transported 1,500 people back to the United States.
The annual Port Huron Float Down is unsanctioned by US and Canadian authorities and there have been efforts to put an end to it over the years.
A summer celebration on the St. Clair River turned into an global rescue.
Police, border security and coast guard agencies worked to pull the floaters safely from the waters.
During this year’s float-a-thon, strong winds pushed the questionably sober seafarers a bit too far east, shipwrecking them on foreign soil.
Thousands of people took part in the float on Sunday and officials called the event hectic as people were blown all over the place.
A Canadian lieutenant colonel concocted Defense Scheme No. 1 in 1921, when the USA was challenging Canada’s colonial master Britain as a world power, according to author Kevin Lippert. “There were long waits and long lines”.
The Americans were partaking in the annual Port Huron Float Down over the weekend when the incident occurred.
“We want to express our gratitude to the Canadian Authorities for their assistance and understanding with the floaters who’ve unintentionally been forced to the Canadian shoreline”, the post said. No gold medals were awarded on Sunday, but at least everyone made it home safe!
“You’ve shown us true kindness and what it means to be awesome neighbors!” the post read.
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Sarnia city spokeswoman Katarina Ovens said workers spent several hours cleaning up after the invasion, picking up beer cans, coolers and even picnic tables that had washed up on the shore.
