Edgar Evins State Park remains closed after Friday’s storm trapped dozens of visitors Friday as falling trees and downed power lines blocked roads.
Park Manager Brad Halfacre said approximately 50 to 60 people were stuck in their vehicles across at least four sections of the park. Halfacre said power lines became intertwined with fallen trees.
“They were pretty scared,” Halfacre said. “Just anytime you think you’re trapped somewhere, you know, granted we were gonna get them out but they were at the moment they’re thinking that you know, maybe have to spend the night in the their car or something like that.”
Halfacre said the park had to be vacated for safety reasons due to the lack of electricity and the extreme heat. Halfacre said the power outage also affected the park’s lift station, creating potential issues with sewage and wastewater management. Halfacre said eventually they were able to safely evacuate all the visitors.
“It was a scary situation all the way around,” Halfacre said. “But, you know, public safety was our number one concern with that.”
Halfacre said saw teams from T-DOT and DeKalb County assisted park staff in clearing the debris to reach the trapped visitors. Halfacre said the park maintenance team also worked through Saturday to clear areas for Upper Cumberland Electric crews.
Wade Givens of The Upper Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation said Monday he was grateful for Halfacre and his team for their support in clearing out the storm damage and assisting UCEMC response crews.
“We’re very fortunate that no injuries occurred, no main structural damage,” Halfacre said. “Yes, it it changed kind of the landscape in some certain places, if you if you’re familiar with the park you’re gonna see a lot of more open areas that that wasn’t there before.”
Halfacre said the park is facing a significant loss of revenue because the storm occurred during the busiest weekend of the year. Halfacre said it will likely take weeks of work to completely repair the damage and clean up the debris piles.
“This is our busiest weekend of the year, so it’s it’s it’s a big revenue loss for just the park plus the supplies and everything that it’s taking the electric company to work on it,” Halfacre said. “The Upper Cumberland Electric has been… you know, they’ve been great.”
