Riders stranded hundreds of feet in air at N.C. amusement park after power failure

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Riders were stranded hundreds of feet in the air on Thursday after Carowinds amusement park experienced a power outage.

Patrons were stuck on the popular Windseeker ride hundreds of feet in the air for more than an hour.

"All of a sudden it was just eerily silent and maybe about a minute later there was an announcement for people not to panic and that ride technicians were working to get them off the rides," said one Carowinds visitor.

"It just went out. Then it came back on and the ride was going up, and all of a sudden it just stopped right there," Robert Curry explained.

Friday Carowinds announced it will operate on normal park hours (10 a.m. - 10 p.m.).  Charlotte Fire, MEDIC and Duke Energy each responded to the scene on Thursday.

Carowinds released the following statement around 9:45 p.m. Thursday:

 

Around 8 pm this evening, there was a power failure at Carowinds. As a result, there was a partial power outage in the park. Several rides were stopped and safely evacuated. We are currently lowering WindSeeker to the ground. As always, the safety of our guests and associates is our highest priority.

All rides were successfully evacuated.