Storm Surge reopens at Thorpe Park following accident

Thorpe Park has reopened its Storm Surge water ride after an accident which reportedly saw a woman's foot crushed by a conveyor belt.

The incident occurred on October 12, with the woman's foot becoming trapped as she stepped onto the conveyor belt in the ride's loading area. The slow-moving belt is used to allow guests to board Storm Surge's 6-seater rubber rafts before ascending a lift hill.

GetSurrey reports that firefighters were called to help free the woman's foot, before she was taken to hospital to receive treatment for a "crush injury". Storm Surge was closed on October 13, but has since reopened to the public.

Storm Surge is a spinning rapids water ride and opened at Thorpe Park in March 2011, having been moved from the closed Cypress Gardens theme park in Florida. Located in the Amity Cove area of the park, the ride is more family-friendly than many of Thorpe Park's other attractions.

The attraction sees groups of riders clambering into rubber rafts, which are then carried by a conveyor belt to the top of a 64-feet-tall hill. They are then propelled by water down a spiral chute, with panels in the slide causing the rafts to spin rapidly during their descent. After splashing down into a channel at ground level, riders can be soaked by onlookers using wind-up water cannons.