Wind Storm Causes Freak Accident with Busch Coaster

By Amber Lester Friday, August 06, 2010

Five people were treated for minor injuries after a wind storm disrupted Busch Gardens’ Griffon roller coaster Thursday.

At approximately 7:30 p.m., wind whipped through the park, where employees were in the process of closing rides and deflating balloons used in the nightly Illuminights fireworks display. A 25-foot-tall vinyl balloon broke free and flew into a train of cars on the Griffon just as the cars came down from the first drop. The balloon blanketed the front of the train, which was halted just before the second drop.

Vice President of Operations Mark Pauls said the ride was built with a scheduled stop at that location, so the cars did not have to slam to halt. The park began evacuating the 27 passengers within six minutes of the stop and completed evacuation by 7:48. To evacuate the floorless coaster, staff positioned moveable staircases beneath the cars.

Five riders sought medical treatment for minor injuries, including neck and back pain, an ankle injury and an eye injury. All five were treated at Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center and released.

Pauls said the park uses an Internet-based system to monitor weather movement from 10 miles away and 30 miles away. If a bad weather event appears 30 miles away, the park begins the process of closing the river rides, which take longer to close, and begins closing roller coasters when a storm is 10 miles away. In this instance, Pauls said the park was in the process of closing rides when the wind storm came through. The rain that was visible on the monitoring software didn’t start to fall until after the evacuation was complete, he said.