Batsto Village seriously damaged by hurricane floodwater

[dogg57]

Flooding from Hurricane Irene has significantly damaged Batsto Village, a nationally recognized historic site in the Pinelands of Atlantic County, and state Department of Environmental Protection cannot say when it will reopen to the public.
Batsto, which dates back to 1766, is part of Wharton State Forest, one of nine state parks that sustained storm damaged last Saturday and Sunday. As of Friday 40 of the 42 state parks are either fully or partially open.

Portions of Batsto Village remain closed. For additional information please call Batsto Village at 609-561-0024

http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/sc...est-seriously-damaged-by-hurricane-floodwater

 

[turtle]

Severe damage as the Batsto and Mullica Rivers rose and met in the village. Adding to the headache is the washout of the roads at both bridges on Rt. 542, closing the road and creating a 12 mile detour coming in from the west...... some camps and many roadways in the forest remain inaccessible. What a mess.

 

[dogg57]

Wow quite a mess! Thanks for sharing the photos Turtle

 

[46er]

What a mess is an understement. How did the upper part near the mansion make out? Any chance of recovering for the Country Living Fair?

 

[turtle]

So far, the only portion of the upper village affected may be the gristmill... The mansion opened for tours yesterday and the village blacksmith is back beginning today (on weekends only)! For obvious reasons the lower village will be closed until further notice. I can only guess that after we muddle through this week, the organizers and park management will begin to think about the CLF.

 

[Boyd]

That's a real shame. Since this was supposed to be a "100 year storm", I wonder if there was a similar problem at some time during the 19th century?

 

[Boyd]

I think everything probably floods worse today because we have cleared and paved over so much natural land that would otherwise absorb the water.

I also wonder what preparation was made for the hurricane, and if some of the damage could have been prevented? For example, in one of the articles that was posted about Cumberland County flooding it mentioned that lake levels were lowered before the storm.

 

[Daniel J Montgomery]

Alot of those roads are still closed down there, part of Rt 542 is still closed (apparently a bridge got washed out) , Atsion/quakerbridge rd is closed (n-bound side of 206). The beach/rec area was open tho. No real probs in Penn State Forest by Oswego tho..didnt look like much flooding had even occurred by the lake. The roads had some mud spots but that's normal. Great Pics btw!