“There is no park anymore, there is no forest there.”
So explained Dan Johnson, who along with his wife Maria Lee, is happy to be alive. The two, along with many other campers, were trapped in Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park on Saturday night after a violent storm toppled thousands of trees.
The couple drove to the park from their home in North York, on a week’s vacation from work, and planned to stay on site the entire time. They pulled into Site 170, a waterfront spot, and started to settle in for the week.
This was on Saturday, June 21. The two had heard reports of bad weather coming to the area, and they expected to deal with a thunderstorm, but what they encountered was much worse, and nothing the two could have predicted.
Johnson explained, “Our site is destroyed. Our car’s destroyed, the tent is destroyed. Where we were sitting was destroyed. Trees were coming down everywhere.”
They were not alone. Many were visiting the park that night, and most were trapped. Nobody died, but there were some injuries, including broken limbs. Those injured were taken to the Mattawa Hospital by road. Others had to be lifted out by helicopter.
Authorities worked fast to get people out. The park is within Calvin Township’s jurisdiction, so its fire crew made it to the park quickly. Soon, firefighters from throughout the region were working to clear the park’s roads and return people to safety.
Once found, they were bused to the Mike Rodden Arena in Mattawa, where the Red Cross had set up cots and preparations. The number of people who arrived isn’t official yet, but some working at the arena said there were about 60 families.
It was at the arena where BayToday met Dan and Maria. This was around 9:30 on Monday morning. The cots were being packed away, and the building was more back to normal, after the weekend it had seen.
The two were in good spirits considering what they had been through, and generous with their storytelling of what Maria described as “The longest night of our lives.”
They were waiting for family to pick them up and bring them home to North York. Once back, and the shock subsides, they’ll start looking for a new car and discussing what to do with the one unintentionally abandoned on Site 170.
Soon after arriving at the campsite, the couple was admiring the water and taking in what seemed to be a friendly enough sky, when everything turned on a dime. A wind came up, and they started hearing snapping sounds, which turned out to be trees falling around them.
“All of this happened so quickly. We weren’t able to make a plan or anything like that. Fight or flight, and every second counts,” Johnson said.
Fuelled by instinct and adrenaline, the two found a spot near a large fallen tree, just a small clearing, but the two weren’t safe yet, and had to dodge falling limbs as they sought safety. It was a frenzied time, and while dodging trees and branches, the two were momentarily lost.
After the damage, they realized they were at a campsite or two over from theirs. However, the trees didn’t allow easy travel, and with night falling, the two felt the path of least resistance was the water. They swam and waded back to find their site. Cell phones provided light, which they held above water to keep dry. The shore was strewn with fallen trees, and they used those to help guide them back through the water.
Cell service went out with the storm, and the two faced a long night ahead.
Johnson recalled it was around 4:45 a.m. when the first rescuers came in sight, and they were rescued at about 10 a.m. He mentioned those rescuers had trekked six hours from the park’s entrance to find them. A boat picked them up — “There was no road,” — and took them to the park office. From there, the OPP drove them to Mattawa’s arena.
A tree fell on their vehicle, but Johnson explained it was propped up against another tree. Needing to get out of the rain and find some shelter for the night, the two deemed it safe enough to hunker down in the back seat.
They didn’t sleep. Johnson recalled, “Every sound of creaking wood, every rain drop, you immediately shoot right back up.”
“We saw the OPP helicopters circling, we heard the chainsaw running,” around 3 a.m. Maria recalled. Johnson said there was a fellow camper a few sites down, “He was pinned, nerve damage in the arm, and had a broken leg. But he was transferred to Sudbury, and he’s doing pretty good.”
After their seemingly endless night in the woods, the two arrived at the arena early Sunday morning. They explained there were many people there, although some of the rescued were offered places to stay by residents. The two remembered there were about six little kids there, but they seemed to be doing okay. There were a couple of dogs and a cat on a leash, who didn’t seem too impressed with the situation, Johnson joked.
The two slept upstairs on cots with about six other people, as that area was cooler. As for meals, Mattawa banded together and donated food to the Legion, which is roughly about three blocks from the arena, across the highway, and volunteers made sure all the new arrivals were well fed.
A doctor came by from Mattawa’s hospital to make sure people were okay and see if anyone needed medicines. The town also brought in someone to entertain the kids with some activities to take their minds off what had happened.
“The town has been so good,” the couple said. “Everyone here has been so kind. Amazing.” They mentioned how everyone came through during such a dire situation: “You can see the best of humanity in the worst of times.”
“We’ve fallen in love with this town,” the two said, and look forward to coming back.
Perhaps on their next camping trip, because they are not letting the terrible incident ruin their love of the woods.
“I’ve camped since I was a kid,” Johnson said. “These things do happen; you can’t really predict the weather. But it may need some time for the two of us to take a deep breath and get into it later again for sure.”
“We’ll be able to sleep in our own bed tonight, thankfully enough.”
