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Lambton Emergency Medical Services were on hand to help with the operation in Sarnia.

A section of Front Street was closed so the refugees could be loaded on buses at Ferry Dock Hill.

No arrests were made, Sottosanti said.

“Unfortunately, there were a lot of people who were under the influence of alcohol,” he said.

“But, I think most people were very appreciative of everything, and were fairly compliant.”

Sottosanti said officials from Canada Border Services were there, and the aim was to keep all of the float-down refugees together, “and then we immediately got them onto buses and got them back over to the states, where their border service would process them.”

Garapick said coast guard officials knew what the winds were doing Sunday, and where they would carry the inner tubes and rafts.

It was only a question of how many would end up on the Canadian shore.

He said the first raft he saw leave Port Huron was already in the center of the river before it even reached the Blue Water Bridge.

“There’s only one place to go when you’re in the middle of the Canadian river there, and that’s the Canadian side,” Garapick said.

Floaters were blown into Sarnia Harbor and Sarnia Bay because of the wind and back current.

“There were hundreds of people along the waterfront in Sarnia,” Garapick said.

Some of the Americans there were “so desperate, they were terrified of coming to Canada without a passport,” he said.

Canadian officials were concerned they would panic, attempt to swim back to the U.S. and end up in danger, Garapick said.