Huntsville State Park prepares for reopening after Hurricane Beryl cleanup
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (KBTX) – During the summer, Huntsville State Park is typically filled with tents and RVs but now utility vehicles line the streets.
On July 8, Hurricane Beryl ripped through the state, leaving the park with hundreds of trees uprooted and causing a power outage lasting over a week. Now, the park will remain closed until Monday, July 22.
This comes just months after heavy rains flooded the park forcing the gates closed for weeks.
“A lot of our trees and our ecosystem is already weakened from the storms that we have already had throughout the year,” Resource Specialist, Tyler Jackson said. “Beryl was kinda like a final nail in the coffin.”
Jackson said he has been working hard to clean up the park so they can open it back up for campers.
“Me and my staff are out daily doing clean up, going along cutting up trees and getting them off of our roads and trails,” Jackson said.
Park Assistant Superintendent, Holly Christie, said they plan on opening the park on Monday, but only a limited amount of trails will be available to hikers due to fallen trees and trail erosion.
“To expect the whole park to be completely reopening is not realistic, unfortunately,” Christie said. “We have a 2000-acre park with 20 miles of trails and so the trails of our park have not had as much attention as the roads and campsites because that’s what we wanted to open up first.”
While trail clean-up could take months, Christie and Jackson are excited to be able to open the park for everyone to enjoy.
“We understand how important state parks are to the public so we really want to make sure we get this park back open,” Jackson said.
