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Sarnia’s mayor doesn’t expect anyone to rush to pay the bill, but says police and city officials should add up what it cost to deal with 1,500 American refugees blown off course to Sarnia in a weekend rafting event.

Hundreds of participants in the annual Port Huron Float Down along the international St. Clair River had to be rescued after the motley flotilla of dinghies and other inflatable devices was scattered by heavy winds Sunday and blown from the Michigan side of the wide river to the Ontario side.

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About 1,500 participants in the annual float — an event often lubricated by alcohol — wound up stranded on the Ontario side of the river.

Many had to be sent back across the border, with Sarnia Transit buses running an estimated 19 trips to ferry them home.

Bradley said he agreed with the decision to load the refugees on buses to take them back.

“The crowd was over-refreshed, if that’s a phrase I can use,” he said.