Multiple parts of Blue Ridge Parkway impassable in NC due to mudslides, storm debris

UPDATE: On Aug. 20, the National Park Serve reported all but two sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway have reopened. Price Lake at Milepost 296.7 remains closed due to damage to the dam and 12 miles from US Route 276 to NC Route 215 are closed due to multiple landslides. The original story is below.

Multiple sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway and Pisgah National Forest are closed in western North Carolina due to fallen trees, mudslides and storm debris.

The damage was caused by remnants of Tropical Storm Fred, which dumped up to a foot of rain on mountain counties Tuesday.

Parkway officials shared a photo that showed large trees in the roadway, after they slid over the pavement on a carpet of mud at Milepost 369.

“Scenes like this one ... met our staff across much of the Parkway in North Carolina earlier today,” the park wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.

“Some areas of the motor road in North Carolina, particularly south of Mt. Pisgah, still remain closed. A few facilities along the route are also without power, so expect those closures to remain in effect until power is restored.”

The U.S. Forest Service reports “bridges out, trails eroded, and trees down” in Pisgah National Forest near the parkway. The damage included a bridge to Black Mountain Campground, which had to be cleared “to allow campers to exit,” the forest service said.

Tourists are being asked to stay away from the forest until all roads are cleared.

National Park Service crews worked through the day Wednesday to clear debris off the Blue Ridge Parkway, officials said. But nearly 20 sections of the parkway were listed as closed Thursday morning, most of them on the southern leg of the parkway in North Carolina.

The inaccessible areas include Mount Mitchell State Park, Craggy Gardens Picnic Area, Bull Gap, Craven Gap and Beech Gap, a parkway closures site reports.

Damage in the area also included an historic “stone bridge at Sunburst Fall on N.C. 215,” just off the parkway in Haywood County, WLOS reports. “The bridge will require extensive repairs before vehicles are able to cross it again,” the station reported.

The parkway covers 469 miles of “rugged mountains and pastoral landscapes of the Appalachian Highlands” in western Virginia and North Carolina, according to the National Park Service. The Virginia stretch of the parkway appears to have been spared storm damage.

Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency in North Carolina after the remnants of Fred pushed out of the Gulf of Mexico into the southeast.

Multiple counties in the western North Carolina saw 8 to 12 inches of rain, and the resulting floods washed out roads, damaged bridges and destroyed homes, McClatchy News reported.

Haywood County reported 35 people are unaccounted for, cell services is offline and the Canton water plant has ceased operation, causing a water shortage.

This story was originally published August 19, 2021 at 7:41 AM with the headline "Multiple parts of Blue Ridge Parkway impassable in NC due to mudslides, storm debris."