Exodus of the Clans 2008

Exodus of the Clans

The Exodus of the clans is the event that marked the end of clan 2008 by the flooding and subsequent evacuation of the bonito lake campground. Although none of the attendees of the event were killed there was significant financial and material loss as a result of the flood waters.

"The gully flood waters the morning after"

Pictures

• Ivar's - http://flickr.com/photos/15764736@N02/sets/72157606406194238/
• Azrael-Jade's - http://flickr.com/photos/9731329@N06/sets/72157606404578895/

Personal accounts

"I was woken up at around 4:30 AM by Glenalth pounding on my tent(I had been camping on the small grassy hill right above wheel camp). He was yelling 'Lurker, Lurker, Lurker, we need to leave, we're being evacuated!' When I asked why, he told me 'There's a big river that wasn't there before!'

Minutes later, I was up and about, and found the river that had appeared 10 feet or so away from my camp. Search&Rescue was there already, but they had told us to stay where we were and not do anything, because we would have to wait until morning so we could find a place to cross. I sat there for close to two hours doing nothing, because they didn't want us to try and escape, even though the Green Dragons had already done so. What S&R had failed to tell us, was that we were soon to be trapped onsite because of a collapsed flood bridge and on the wrong side of a rapidly flowing death river that wasn't there before. Eventually, we got the idea to pack up things, and have Glenalth throw them across the river to Marcil, who would load them in the trucks for people.

A little before 7 AM, Brennon, Glen, and Clalibus came by and informed us that if we didn't escape soon, we'd be trapped there because the exit from the campgrounds was collapsing. The idea soon became to use the narrow spots up by Green Dragon camp to cross the river by using a rope. We eventually got everyone across, but the water was above waist-high there, and it was difficult. The whole time Search&Rescue did nothing to help, and we had to be saved by Amtgarders. It was a tremendous relief to get out of there." -Lurker

"It was about 3 or 4 in the morning when Giri woke me up in a panic. She heard rustling coming from outside (it was raining fairly hard) and thought it was a bear in the pavilion or just kind of windy. But then she noticed that the tent was a bit sloshy and that the noise really didn't sound like wind. I unzipped the door to see what was going on and while doing so the tent started to collapse. The tarps we put up over our tent were tearing themselves out of the ground. Then we saw the RIVER of water running below us. At that time the tarps flew off, the supply tent 2 feet in front of us broke free and a wall of water came at us, lifting the tent up. We were sleeping on a large air mattress which quickly became a raft. Giri and I held on to the bed as we passed Kurse and Verana's tent. They too were frantically trying to get out of their tent, but I'll get to that in a minute. Giri tells me to grab a pole arm that was floating by in attempt to steer/slow us down. The small creek by the Archon site (which was also below water) had turned into a FAST moving river. We eventually managed to stop our "raft". After testing the water we get out and see that we had floated/hauled ass down past gate. In nothing but our skivvies we headed for the road to get to the warmth of the truck and to check on Kurse and Verana. Luckily they had left the baby at Kurse's sisters house the day before. Kurse had to bite and tear his way out of his tent as he couldn't find the zipper in the twisted mess of a tent. The two of them manage to get out safely. Verana met up with Artemis and Courtney who were luckily sleeping in their truck while Kurse went looking for us. We met up in the road and headed back to camp.

After finding us Kurse went back to check on Clouder, Lance, Tempest, and Caus who were stranded on the higher grounds of Esydra camp. The river of water was exceptionally deep and swift and there was no way they could safely cross it on their own. They were stuck in the cold rain, with no shelter for about 3 hours, until an Amtgarder who chooses to remain anonymous, rescued the 4 of them by himslef with a piece of rope. The "cops" never once got out of their cars. They made sure they stayed warm in their cars, smoking their ciggs. None of them offered us any clothing or any real assistance whatsoever. Being a paramedic, I find this appalling that a so called public servant wouldn't even attempt to help. I told them I was a paramedic and they wouldn't even help me out by giving me a jacket and a rope to even try to help save them. Finally we see the boys walking towards us and get them into the trucks to warm up.

All of us are safe with minor cuts/bruises, but 99.5% of what we owned is gone. F***ing gone." -Vinall

"All I know is, I get a phone call sunday morning from Cassandrah saying that Clan had flooded, and was calling to make sure we were ok. I spent the next two hours calling all DS peeps and making sure no one was hurt and all were all right. Thank goodness for Clalibus, Glen and Brennon. Seriously." -Raven

"We were told we must evacuate about 4:30 am Sunday when the ravine went flash flood but we could pack up. The rangers would not let our guys mount a rescue mission to retrieve Glenalth, Randall and Azrael Jade and others who were trapped on the other side. A while later the rangers came back and told us the bridge was going, get out NOW. Gear was left.

The rangers told the folks on the other side to stay there, they were safer over there, in the tents. Heh.

To relieve fears, they all got out but that is their story to tell.

Dennys in Ruidoso was not terribly amused to be invaded by dozens of bedraggled Amtgarders seeking coffee, food and functioning restrooms. We got two of the three - bathrooms were out of service.

Azrael Jade has very cute pajamas." -Emer