Storm forces some park, camping closures

The National Park Service has announced that all campgrounds on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia and North Carolina are under a mandatory evacuation order due to “pending high wind and heavy rain associated with Hurricane Florence.”

Affected campers are eligible for refunds. Backcountry camping areas are also included, according to a statement issued by Parkway headquarters.

All Blue Ridge Parkway campgrounds are under a mandatory evacuation order as of 5 p.m. Wednesday, September 12.

Jamie Sanders, the public affairs officer at Great Smoky Mountains National Park, said the park staff began “preliminary planning” to address the hurricane, but “no major closures have been put into place yet.”

Sanders said the park is planning “on the possibility of having pre-emptive closures,” but she said those wouldn’t occur until the storm actually approaches.

At 2 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Hurricane Florence was several hundred miles off the North Carolina coastline, moving northwest at 16 miles per hour.

The storm is expected to come ashore later this week and meander across the Carolinas or Georgia, possibly impacting the Smokies beginning Monday.

All North Carolina state parks have been closed as the storm approaches, while some coastal South Carolina state parks have been closed. Virginia state parks are closed except for those in the southwest part of the state.

Georgia state parks remain open, according to a posting on the state park website.