WU: Norwegian Cruise Arrives Safely in Florida After 115-MPH Wind Gust Rocks Ship, Injures Passengers

Written by on March 9, 2019 in United States of America with 0 Comments

Below article from wunderground.com

Sean Breslin
Published: March 6, 2019

A Norwegian Cruise Line ship arrived safely in Cape Canaveral Tuesday, two days after a powerful wind gust rocked the ship, injuring several passengers, scattering debris and even breaking some windows aboard the vessel.

The Norwegian Escape was slammed by a wind gust estimated at 115 mph just before midnight on Sunday, hours after the cruise ship departed New York City, bound for Florida, the cruise line told the Associated Press. Several passengers were injured, though the severity of those injuries weren’t disclosed by Norwegian.

“Two years ago, I was on (a cruise): 70 mph winds all throughout the night, just a bad storm. And those two minutes were worse than that whole night,” passenger Cam Dube told Florida Today after the ship docked in Port Canaveral, Florida. “I thought it was it. I thought it was tipping.”

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In a statement posted to social media, Norwegian Cruise Line said: “Just before midnight on Sunday, March 3, Norwegian Escape encountered unexpected weather in the form of a sudden, extreme gust of wind … which resulted in the ship heeling to the port side.”

The statement continued: “She is currently headed to Port Canaveral for an anticipated early arrival on March 5. Neither the current itinerary, nor the next sailing are expected to be impacted.”

The Escape has a capacity of more than 4,200 passengers and more than 1,700 crew members, according to CruiseHive.

“A cold front and area of low pressure associated with Winter Storm Scott pushed off the East Coast Sunday night,” said weather.com meteorologist Brian Donegan. “That likely played a role in the sudden gust of wind the ship experienced.”

Other cruise ships departed New York City Sunday but were able to avoid the damaging winds.

Aside from the broken windows, Norwegian said there was no other damage to the ship. The Escape remained operational and arrived in Port Canaveral Tuesday morning, when ambulances met the ship at the dock to treat injured passengers who had also received treatment aboard the vessel, Florida Today also reported.

“We were looking for the life preservers. And I was looking to jump out the window and jump on the nearest thing around,” passenger Bill Hanson told Florida Today. “It’s a brand new ship. The captain kept calm. They did their job. But let me tell you, Mother Nature whacked us.”

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