Bad weather doesn't stop Stampede
5:08 p.m. Friday, June 27, 2008
While people are walking around and enjoying the sunny weather, Pottawatomie County Sheriff Greg Riat takes the day to make sure he's prepared if more bad weather moves in.
He flips through the pages, and show us his disaster plan for Country Stampede.
"The fact is there is not a shelter down here to hold 50,000 people, so what we do is we look at the different things that could happen," said Riat.
And after last night, "We tested our plan last night, and for the most part, it went very well," said Riat.
Rain left a muddy mess for campers, and many are still drying out.
Camper Lizzie Maiden said the mud isn't fun.
"Horrible, HORR-BILE, like we are trying to walk, and it's just all over the place, so you're just going to have to walk into it no matter what," said Maiden.
But the mud didn't stop people from camping.
Erin Hicks loves camping, but says last night was frustrating.
"We were laying down in the tent and the tent came crashing down on us," said Hicks.
General Manager Wayne Rouse tried to help get rid of the muddy water.
"We had pumper trucks out here this morning, pumping out the large areas of water," said Rouse.
He says it's not the first time Country Stampede's dealt with bad weather.
"This is our 13th year doing this, we have a meteorologist on site, and we keep very tight tabs on the weather," said Rouse.
And in case of bad weather, they're ready.
"The Corps of Engineers has helped identify some of the low lying areas," said Riat.
Because the parking lots are muddy, there's a new parking plan in place for Country Stampede. Tune to radio station 1610 AM for details. The radio station is available once you are in 15 miles of the Country Stampede site.
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