wellnessfitpro“We were just trying to find a place to not get hit by a tree that was falling,” Kathleen Hart said
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/Olympic-national-park-241c6f614d3947c5a58580ee989b5e0c.jpg "UNITED STATES - 2013/01/01: Maple trees covered with mosses at the Hall of Mosses in the Hoh River rainforest, Olympic National Park, Washington State, United States. (Photo by Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images)")
Credit: Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket/getty
NEED TO KNOW
- A group of hikers were stranded overnight in Olympic National Park when a severe storm knocked down a number of trees
- Kathleen Hart said about a dozen people ended up taking shelter in a nearby parking lot
- Park rangers cleared the road nearly 20 hours later on Sunday, Nov. 8
A severe storm left about a dozen people stranded in Olympic National Park for nearly 24 hours.
Kathleen Hart told ABC affiliate WCVB that she was out hiking with a friend in the Washington state around 5 p.m. local time on Saturday, Nov. 7, when extreme weather caused a tree to fall across a road. The pair then decided to turn around and head for the visitor center, only to find a second fallen tree blocking the way.
“We were just trying to find a place to not get hit by a tree that was falling. And with the thunder and lightning, it made it even more scary,” Hart told ABC affiliate KOMO-TV.
In search of safety, the pair headed for an open parking lot near Hoh Road and found six more stranded cars.
“We didn’t realize we’d be spending the night,” she added.
Despite having only limited food and water, she told WCVB that the fellow stranded hikers were being “such good sports and looking out for each other.”
“People here are so lovely,” she said.
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Hart said she repeatedly called 911 and local police, who said to contact the park rangers, but Hart said she didn’t see a park ranger until noon on Sunday, Nov. 8.
The rangers arrived to cut the trees around 1:30 p.m., and the stranded group left the park around 2 p.m.
Olympic National Park confirmed in a statement Sunday evening that “strong winds and heavy precipitation swept across the Olympic Peninsula,” which caused power outrages and road closures in several areas of the park.
The park went on to confirm that “all affected roads and areas have since reopened.”
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