The full 500-mile length of the Blue Ridge Parkway is closed to all uses due to damage from Hurricane Helene, according to an alert from the National Park Service.
Closures will remain in place until staff can safely assess the park and clear any storm damage, NPS said.
October 3 update from the National Park Service
“The entire length of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina and Virginia is closed as crews continue their assessment of the damage from Hurricane Helene. The National Park Service has deployed its Eastern Incident Management Team which brings specialized skills and resources to support the parkway with employee emergency needs, emergency stabilization of affected park resources, and damage assessments. As of Thursday afternoon, 250 National Park Service employees from 32 states and the District of Columbia are working with Blue Ridge Parkway staff in the recovery efforts.
“National Park Service assessment teams are still completing their initial inspections of the parkway, acquiring the data they will need to analyze the full impact of Hurricane Helene. 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.