Blue Ridge Parkway closed due to damage caused by Hurricane Helene

This will definitely give you a case of the blues.

The entire 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway is closed indefinitely as crews assess “catastrophic” damage caused by the remnants of Hurricane Helene, according to the National Park Service.

The iconic road, known as “America’s Favorite Drive” for its beautiful scenery, runs from Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park to North Carolina’s Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

It is the most visited national park site in the US, with 16.7 million visitors in 2023.

According to the National Park Service, the damage is “catastrophic” in some cases. The most severe destruction of the parkway stretches from milepost 280 to milepost 469, Cardinal News reports.

The National Park Service had previously closed the parkway through North Carolina, But the closure has now been expanded to include Virginia, Cardinal News reports.

Blue Ridge Parkway crews received reinforcements Thursday, as 250 National Park Service employees from 32 states and Washington, D.C., joined recovery efforts, according to a news alert on the National Park Service website.

The news outlet said assessment teams are still completing their work in Virginia and will determine a “timeline and cost estimate” for repairing the parkway “in the coming weeks.”

The Blue Ridge Parkway announcement comes on the heels of the closure of another national treasure.

The U.S. Forest Service announced earlier this week that more than 90 miles of the Appalachian Trail through Virginia will remain closed until further notice, while Trail managers ask hikers to avoid hiking longer distances The damage caused by the storm is still a long way from being fully assessed, Cardinal News reports.