- Location: Nyack Memorial Park and downtown Nyack (Main and Franklin streets, near the Hudson House restaurant patio), Rockland County, New York.
- Group: Approximately 70 students (8th and 9th graders/teens) from Toras Emachu, a private school in Monsey.
- The Trek: The girls walked about 0.5 miles through dark, rocky stormwater infrastructure after thinking the entrance was a cave.
- Injuries: No serious injuries occurred; one student was treated at the scene and another was taken to a local hospital for minor abdominal pain. [1]
- Official Reaction: Nyack Mayor Joe Rand noted that the situation could have been dangerous if sudden rain had increased the water volume in the stormwater runoff tunnel, and announced plans to review safety measures around the culvert.
Dozens of young girls unexpectedly emerged from a drain in the patio of a Rockland County restaurant Wednesday after taking an unauthorized trek underground.
Nyack Mayor Joe Rand said the girls were on a school trip visiting Nyack Memorial Park when they entered a massive drainage tunnel, which collects much of the village’s stormwater runoff.
“They saw the culvert, they saw the cave, and they thought, let’s go take a look, see what’s there,” he said. “And they started walking, and they just kept walking and walking and walking.”
The mayor says the group traveled roughly half a mile through the dark culvert on rocks and uneven terrain before safely finding an exit at Hudson House restaurant, surprising restaurant owner Matt Hudson.
“I was in the office when I heard kids chattering,” Hudson said. “I was like, where is that coming from?”
He was astonished to find the young girls climbing out of a drain over a creek in the courtyard behind his restaurant.
“Sure enough, we came back here into the patio, looked here, and it was filling up with kids,” he said. “They were fine, but they were excitedly talking. They were happy to be getting out of here.”
“Everybody was safe, and I’m so grateful for that. I’m grateful for the first responders,” Rand said. “But it was dangerous, they shouldn’t have been doing it. Because … we could’ve gotten rain this afternoon, and if it rains, this thing gets much more powerful, and the water could have really picked up on them.”
The mayor said he will be reviewing safety measures at the culvert site and is reminding residents and visitors that drainage culverts are not for recreational use.
For Hudson, it’s a day he won’t forget.
“We’ve been here almost 36 years,” he said. “We thought we saw it all, but no, no, there are still some surprises here.”
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