Hunting Island is taking awhile to dry out. It was just announced Sunday morning that Hunting Island State Park will be closed through at least this Wednesday, July 15, due last week’s flooding. The word came from the State Park’s official Twitter page.
Unfortunate news to report…We will continue to remain closed at least through Wednesday July 15th. Everyone of our roads still have covered areas of flood waters. We are not draining well. We have been pumping water off of our roads since the rain began. 😭 #sadparkrangertweet
— Hunting Island State Park (@HuntingIslandSP) July 12, 2020
Park staff had originally hoped to have the popular spot reopened by Friday, but the water is receding slowly.
The closure came after intense rains on Monday and Tuesday dumped a whopping 12 inches of rain on our sea islands in a 48 hour period, causing roads and lower-lying spots in the park to be flooded
According to park staff, the entire park will be closed due to flooding, with standing water on the roadways inside the park. The only exception of the closure will be the campground.
This certainly isn’t the first time that Hunting Island saw a flood.
The past few years haven’t been kind to everyone’s favorite local beach. Hurricane Matthew caused lots of destruction in 2016 and that was followed by Irma in 2017 and each time there are heavy rains, some of the roads in the park flood out, as does the campground.
Reports say that the roads in the park will be undergoing a major overhaul in the future and will be raised a few feet above their present height to help avoid flooding in the coming years.
Let’s hope that she dries out in time for Wednesday. We were prepared to wait a few more days than were originally expected.
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