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News / Weather News
Kennedy family members missing after canoeing on Chesapeake Bay amid windy conditions
By Chaffin Mitchell, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Apr 4, 2020 5:32 PM EDT
Communities along the coast of New Hampshire flooded on April 3, as rough surf pounded the region.
Two members of the Kennedy family disappeared in the Chesapeake Bay after they set out in a canoe to retrieve a ball in the water amid windy weather on Thursday afternoon.
Search efforts for the granddaughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean, 40, and her 8-year-old son Gideon Joseph Kennedy McKean “turned from rescue to recovery” on Friday night, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
Gov. Larry Hogan, R-Md., speaks at a news conference, Friday, April 3, 2020, in Annapolis, Md. Authorities are searching for the daughter and a grandson of former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend after a canoe they were paddling in the Chesapeake Bay didn’t return to shore. Hogan on Friday identified the missing relatives as Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean and McKean’s 8-year-old son, Gideon Joseph Kennedy McKean. (AP Photo/Brian Witte)
“It was dry in the Bay on Thursday; however, it was windy with gusts between 25 to 35 knots (29-40 mph) across much of the Bay,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Tyler Roys said.
According to Roys, the water temperature in the Bay ranged between 49 to 52 degrees.
“Despite heroic efforts by the Coast Guard and many state and local authorities, the decision has now been made to suspend the active rescue effort. The search that began yesterday afternoon went on throughout the night and continued all day today. It is now dark again. It has been more than 24 hours, and the chances they have survived are impossibly small. It is clear that Maeve and Gideon have passed away,” human rights lawyer David McKean said of his wife in a Facebook post on Friday night.
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McKean said the family was self-quarantined at the Maeve’s mother's home off of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.
“Gideon and Maeve were playing kickball by the small, shallow cove behind the house, and one of them kicked the ball into the water. The cove is protected, with much calmer wind and water than in the greater Chesapeake. They got into a canoe, intending simply to retrieve the ball, and somehow got pushed by wind or tide into the open bay,” McKean said.
The Coast Guard recovered their canoe, which was capsized and miles away, at approximately 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, but no sign of McKean and her son.
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“My heart is crushed, yet we shall try to summon the grace of God and what strength we have to honor the hope, energy and passion that Maeve and Gideon set forth into the world,” Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the mother of Maeve McKean, said in a statement.
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