Rangers at Acadia National Park are defending their reliance on signs to warn sightseers yesterday of the dangers of high waves, one of which swept at least seven people out to sea and resulted in the drowning of a 7-year-old girl. The rangers say they have no plans to change they way they block off areas and handle crowds when hurricanes and other storms pose a potential threat.
The unusually large wave hit the east side of Mount Desert Island at Thunder Hole just before noon on Sunday, according to Acadia National Park officials and witnesses, such as local resident Carol Clark and her husband.
"It was to the right of Thunder Hole on the ledge of rocks there," Carol Clark says. "And we were sitting up fairly high and this wave came over and it got us soaking wet and that's when one of the park assistants told everybody to get up onto this walkway. And so I was up here on this walkway and I saw heads bobbing down on the water and I told my husband, 'There's people down in the water.'"
Park officials say at least 13 people standing just south of Thunder Hole were hit by the wave. "That wave did a lot of damage for folks," says Acadia Chief Ranger Stuart West. "It actually washed seven people into the ocean. Of those seven people that got washed into the ocean, four rescued themselves -- they were able to climb out. The other three were rescued by the Coast Guard."
West says one of those plucked out of the water, 7-year-old Clio Axlerod of New York City, did not survive. The other two rescued were Clio's father, 55-year-old Peter Axlerod of New York, and a 12-year-old girl from Belfast named Simone Pelletier. They remained hospitalized at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, according to officials. It's unclear whether Peter Axlerod was swept into sea or jumped in to try to save his daughter.
West says the viewers were not necessarily acting irresponsibly. They were not standing in blocked off viewing areas and the wave traveled far beyond anyone's predictions. In addition, the weather was clear, which made many people think viewing was safe.
"Where we're standing the grasses are laying down and there's even a little bit of gravel up on the Park Loop Road, and this is about 50 feet or so from the water's edge, so folks were pretty far from the ocean," West says. "They were up on a cliff that's about 20 feet above water level but it wasn't far enough away yesterday. The wages were just too large. I think on any normal day like today, with the conditions we have today, people are standing in the same location and they're completely safe right now."
Both West and witness Carol Clark say it took about an hour to rescue the three who had been swept away. Clark says she thinks park officials acted as quickly as they could.
"There was absolutely really nothing that they could do until the Coast Guard got out there," Clark says. "They probably could have had more people but I don't think they were expecting the turnout of people that were here. I had never ever seen it this busy before. So it would have been hard to have had that many people manning the beach."
There were additional reports of more people being swept into the ocean and being recovered, and additional injuries from being knocked over by waves. At least 13 people were brought to the emergency room at MDI Hospital from the incident.
The young victim's mother, Sandra Kuhatch-Axlerod of New York, was transferred to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, where she is recovering with her husband.
West says he cannot think of another time when people were swept into the ocean by an unusual wave. He says that in the future, the park will continue to block off only the most dangerous areas.
"The Park Service's goal is to get people out into the park. And people are here to see the spectacle of the raging ocean hitting the Maine coastline. And that's part of what Acadia is," West says. "And we don't want to take that opportunity away from the public. Because the reality is if we were to close off this area, the public would just go somewhere else."
West says on behalf of the park, he is deeply sorry for the Axlerod family's loss. "This is a tragic event and our hearts go out to the families and the friends of the families who were involved in accident and the death of that one child."
At the request of the injured people's families, the hospitals are not releasing any further information about the conditions of those who are still recovering
