Fast-rising floodwaters on Corndodger Creek about 6 a.m. Saturday washed one person downstream among about 32 campers who awoke to water rising in their tents. A man caught inside his tent and unable to escape was aided by two fellow campers who cut him out after he became entangled and was overtaken beneath the rushing water. The other man, who was swept away, was soon rescued by two men as he clung to a nearby county bridge, said Lee Tebbutt, St. George, president of the Kaw Valley Muzzleloaders that regularly camp on his family’s land there. Blue Rapids and Frankfort firefighters soon arrived and helped 11 members of the group who remained in the floodwaters after others made it to higher ground. All campers, shaken but alive, were taken to refuge in a farmhouse not far from Corndodger Creek, a campsite about 1.5 miles south of Kansas Highway 9 near 15th Road between Frankfort and Blue Rapids. Campers included adults and a few teens who were part of a Spring Thaw Rendezvous, an annual muzzleloader reenactment weekend event that’s been held at Corndodger Station for the past 30 years.
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