A man and his dog had to be rescued from a tree in Barrie after flash flooding hit Sunnidale Park on Monday.
Kristian Mitry, 35, and Mackenzie McIntyre, 21, along with their German shepherd are part of a group that is walking from Hamilton to British Colombia to raise awareness about animal rights.
The pair stopped in Barrie on Sunday night, setting up camp at Sunnidale Park. The tents were setup in the water retention area of the park, which collects overflow from the city streets.
When the area filled up, McIntyre swam through the water to get help. She was able to flag down a passerby on Highway 400 and contacted emergency crews.
“I was panicking a lot. I was having a lot of trouble figuring out what to do because we were literally in the middle of a lake,” Mitry says.
Firefighters arrived a short time later to find Mitry and his dog stranded in a tree surrounded by six feet of water.
Emergency crews were able to safely pluck the man and the dog from the tree. Both people were taken to hospital, where they were treated for hypothermia.
“You should never be camping here,” says Barrie Fire and Emergency Services spokesperson, Samantha Hoffmann. “The design of this is it takes all of the water from any overflow from city drains and comes to this area here.”
However, Mitry says they had no idea the park was unsafe.
“We were told it was a safe area to set up camp by other people who walked their dogs in the area.”
The dog was taken to the OSPCA while the owners were in hospital. Another person who had been camping with the couple had left the tent before the flooding started, only to return later to learn what had happened.
“I’m just at a lost of what to do,” says Tim Huntington. “That was all of our gear.”
The group is now staying with family in the area and have been in contact with the Red Cross.
