MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The recent storms that took out power for nearly half of the Morgantown area have apparently led to representatives at Chestnut Ridge Park to cancel reservations scheduled for the upcoming weekend.
As part of a damage assessment that took place in response to the weekend storms that reportedly took out over 100 electrical poles in less than an hour, Chestnut Ridge Park and Campground Superintendent Corwin Hoban announced that the Klaer Lodge and Pine Cabin were damaged due to the storms, which prompted the cancellation and refunding of at least two weekend reservations. The damage occurred as a result of one of several downed trees in the area, with one falling on the Klaer Lodge while someone was inside of it.
“The two cabins that were damaged, we’re not going to be able to rent them out this weekend,” said Hoban. “We’re going to provide refunds to those who have booked them, and we do have a good bit of reservations this weekend, but we are hoping, as long as everything goes according to schedule, we won’t have to cancel any other reservations.”
According to Hoban, the majority of the damage that occurred at Chestnut Ridge Park took place in about a 15-minute block on Saturday night. This was supported by wind gusts recorded in parts of the Morgantown area between 60 and 70 miles per hour that caused power outages to nearly half of Mon Power customers. While the Klaer Lodge had a tree fall on the roof and the Pine Cabin received extensive damage, downed trees in various parts of the park could’ve made things much worse if the storm had taken place during the night.
“The main thing is a lot of large trees are down and blocking roadways; they took down power lines; one of our cabins had a tree land directly on top of it, as I mentioned already; and another one had a tree land on the backside of it,” said Hoban. “With some damages that are yet to be fully assessed.”
The timeframe to eventually reopen the Klaer Lodge is aimed to take place sometime before the start of the summer, with the Pine Cabin expected to be permanently closed due to the damage. This is based on assessments of the initial structural damage, with other cabins expected to be given consideration to have repairs if any damage is found by other park officials. While grateful that nobody was injured during the storm, Hoban is trying to stay optimistic despite some of the damage that was seen.
“They say it’s going to be a month or more before we can reopen Klaer, and we’ve got to see how much damage is done to the roof and get some windows replaced, and other things at least,” said Hoban. “For Pine Cabin, I’m not sure we’ll be able to reopen; it might be done for.”
Chestnut Ridge Park intends to remain fully open despite the damage that took place during the strong Saturday storms. That includes continuing to operate the remaining five cabins and lodges that are regularly open during the spring and summer months. While refunds will be issued for both the Klaer Lodge and Pine Cabin for the duration of their closure, Hoban expects the rest of the park to recover and remain open for business.
“We are waiting for some of the higher-ups in the facilities and maintenance department to get up here and help us assess the damage,” said Hoban. “They’ll probably bring an excavator up and some other big tools that can help us get some of this stuff out of the way.”