CHEROKEE, N.C. — UPDATE (10/11): A section of the Blue Ridge Parkway is open to the public. According to the National Park Service, the parkway between mile post 198.4 (Turkey Ridge Road) in Virginia and mile post 469 at Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Cherokee, NC remains closed.
Crews are continuing to work on the damages like downed trees and mudslides that were caused by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina. Damage in Virginia is less severe but work still remains to clear roads of trees and brush to make the last portion of the parkway in Virginia safe for use, NPS said.
“The damage left behind by the storm has created dangerous conditions, some of which are not immediately visible from the road itself,” Tracy Swartout, superintendent of the Blue Ridge Parkway, said. “We thank the public for their cooperation in respecting closures for their safety and to allow crews to complete their work.”
NPS reminds the public that the closures along Blue Ridge and associated park trails applies to all vehicles and uses – motor vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians.
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ORIGINAL
The National Park Service announced that the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina and Virginia is closed. They said crews are assessing the damage from Helene.
NPS said they had deployed its Eastern Incident Management Team, bringing specialized skills and resources to support the parkway with employee emergency needs, emergency stabilization of affected park resources and damage assessments.
As of Thursday, 250 National Park Service employees from 32 states and the District of Columbia are working with Blue Ridge Parkway staff in the recovery efforts, according to the park.
NPS assessment teams are still finishing their inspections and gathering the data they will need to analyze the full impact of the tropical storm.
Based on what the teams have seen so far, significant, and in some cases catastrophic, damage has occurred along the parkway, particularly from milepost 280 to milepost 469, NPS said.
In the coming weeks, the teams will use the data from their inspections to determine the full extent of the damage including the timeline and cost estimates for repairs.
According to NPS, a reopening date for any section of Blue Ridge in North Carolina has not been made.
In Virginia, damage assessments and clearing debris from the road are almost completed, which will allow a phased reopening in Virginia in the coming days to weeks, NPS said.