How 469 mile road visited by 16,700,000 a year has been destroyed
One of America’s most beautiful roads has been destroyed during its peak visiting season.
The Blue Ridge Parkway in western North Carolina and Virginia draws 16.7 million visitors each year to see its rolling mountains and stunning foliage.
But Hurricane Helene’s destruction has left much of the parkway washed out, and in some places, completely destroyed.
It’s not just the roads themselves that are damaged – the trees which so many flock to see in the autumn have been uprooted and had their leaves completely ripped off.
The Parkway has been closed indefinitely in the meantime, leaving those who had hoped to see this year’s foliage without other options.
Dubbed ‘America’s Favourite Drive’, the parkway meanders for 469 miles through the Appalachian Mountains.
The National Park Service said: ‘National Park Service is working diligently, and areas will reopen as soon as it is safe to do so. For safety reasons, park managers are asking the public to be patient and respect the closures.’
Western North Carolina is still reeling from Hurricane Helene, with 92 people still missing nearly a month after the storm destroyed the area.
Drone footage taken near the Parkway showed dead trees and no cars on the normally busy road.
Matt Van Swol, who filmed the footage, wrote: ‘This is normally PEAK leaf-viewing season in the Fall and the Parkway is unrecognizable.
‘Zero leaves. Up to 80% tree loss in some areas. Mudslides. Roads washed out.’
The ‘unsurvivable’ Category 4 hurricane swept through Florida and southeastern U.S. earlier this month, impacting smaller mountain communities in a way never seen before.
The small town of Chimney Rock, North Carolina – a popular destination for tourists – was wiped off of the map completely.
The damage has been compared to that of Hurricane Katrina for the small mountain towns in North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia.
Landslides from overflowing rivers and flash floods lifted homes from their foundations, sending them floating down the sides of mountains.
Bridges and vital infrastructure has collapsed, cutting off the already rural communities from any outside help.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.