Band members get caught in flash flood Other than soggy sneakers, everyone OK

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June 27, 2008

By Suzanne Laurent

LONDONDERRY — At the end of every checklist, when the Lancers Marching Band heads off for a performance trip, is the item, "And you had a good time."

Well, this just took on a whole new meaning as the band and color guard can now add surviving a flash flood in Chengde, China, to their "good times."

The band left for China last week to perform in a pre-Olympic cultural festival.

The group was touring Chengde, northwest of Beijing, after performing several times over the weekend and on the Great Wall on Monday.

After getting some calls from parents of students who had called home to say they were trapped inside a McDonald's Wednesday, Superintendent Nate Greenberg got in touch with music director Andy Soucy.

"They had about two hours of torrential downpours," Greenberg said.

"Some of the kids were at McDonald's with a few chaperones where the water reached 2 feet. They found a path on higher ground and waded ankle-deep back to the hotel. Everyone's fine."

That explained the rather cryptic call Alison Yankowskas received from her daughter, Meghan, around 10:30 p.m., Chengde time.

"She told me that she went to a McDonald's and that they had a difficult time walking back to the hotel," Yankowskas said. "She only brought one pair of sneakers, so they must be soaked."

Yankowskas did not know about the flash flood.

"Meghan said she'd fill me in when she got home."

School Board member John Robinson posted on the band's blog that his wife Karen, a chaperone on the trip, reported that everyone was safe.

The students did have to climb seven flights of stairs when they got back to the Tianbao Holiday Hotel, but Greenberg said the hotel does have power and is fully functional.

One student posted a cell phone video of a car splashing through water up to its headlights on the blog at http://lancermusicnotes.org.

The band, chaperones and followers will be returning to Londonderry in three groups on Friday evening and early Saturday morning.