Tallest water slide’s debut halted again

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With nearly half of its season already in the books, a water park in Kansas has been forced to delay the opening of the world’s tallest water slide for the third time and hasn’t set a new date for its debut.

Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City announced Thursday that Verruckt, a 17-story, 168-foot-tall water slide, would not open Sunday as scheduled. The park’s news release did not give a reason for the latest delay, although earlier this week two media sneak preview days were canceled because of problems with a conveyor system that hauls 100-pound rafts to the top of the slide.

Verruckt, which means “insane” in German, was certified as the world’s tallest water slide in April by Guinness World Records. The slide sends riders on four-person rafts plummeting at 60-70 mph.

In early tests, rafts carrying sandbags flew off the slide, prompting engineers to tear down half of the ride and reconfigure some of its angles at a cost of $1 million, Henry said.

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