Managers at the Jaguar Paw Resort in Franks Eddy Village are reporting that a flash flood in the Caves Branch River caused a number of tourists to get stuck inside the caves system in the area and they say irresponsible tour guides are to blame.
The dramatic report by the resort says that they were called on to assist people, including small children, who were trapped inside the caves, some who had to be rescued out of fast running water. 7NEWS spoke to Ian Anderson who owns Caves Branch Resort 9 miles up river from where the incident occurred. His guests were not on the river, but he says that at around 11 this morning, he called Jaguar Paw Resort and informed them that there was a flash flood coming down. The scare that Jaguar Paw reports did not occur until two this afternoon three hours after that warning.
We spoke to Brian Woodeye, associate director for parks management, who says they were not aware of any flood warning and that they had been monitoring the river at 9:00 this morning, they decided it was safe enough to go in. But independent sources tell us that there was a flood, and 30 people were in the water when it happened.
