Park Closed, Aerial Footage Shows Water

The heavy rains that fell over much of the mid-Atlantic and along the east coast this week caused flooding across Pennsylvania and in the popular vacation destination, Hersheypark. Both Hersheypark and ZooAmerica were subsequently closed.

The park was closed Monday after "excessive rainfall" and "localized flooding," the park said in tweet. Hersheypark reopened Tuesday amidst clouds and showers but with some rides temporarily closed. ZooAmerica remained closed and the animals were kept in a safe area, the zoo said on its Facebook page.

Both parks were then closed Wednesday and had yet to reopen Thursday. Hersheypark reassured worried potential visitors with tickets, in a tweet, that summer tickets would be valid through September 30.

Aerial footage showed brown water pooled across the park. The water was covering the ground under many of the rollercoasters and some of the pathways.

Heavy rains along with flash flooding that could deluge roadways were a threat Wednesday evening into Thursday, the National Weather Service warned. The severe storms were expected to move out over the ocean Thursday but there was another possible storm expected to come from the central Appalachians and move northward Friday, said the NWS.

For Pennsylvania, the weather was expected to clear up Friday and turn to sun by the weekend.

Even if the sun comes out, the water that has gathered at the parks would need to drain before they could re-open.

The parks were part of more generalized flooding. There were more than 50 road closures across several counties, including Lancaster, Cumberland and York counties, in Pennsylvania Thursday morning, PennLive reported.

Some roads were even damaged. On Thursday morning, a motorist on Moulstown Road drove into a large hole that had opened in the road under the rains, according to PennLive. The sign that warned of the hole was removed and the driver was unaware of the hazard. The Porters Community Fire Company, the local volunteer department that responded to the scene, posted a photo of the substantially damaged car on Facebook.

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