BURKE, Vt. (WCAX) – One of Vermont’s biggest tourism spots has taken a big hit again. The heavy rain and flooding forced closures at Kingdom Trails, a major economic driver in the Northeast Kingdom. And it hit during peak season.
The small town of Burke was hit once again with flooding, wiping out the community’s largest economic driver.
“We have experienced complete trail washout. We have had culverts rise up out of the ground, bridges disappear,” said Abby Long, the executive director of Kingdom Trails.
Long says they have never been hit with flooding like this before. The organization spent more than $20,000 following the flooding three weeks ago, and now, officials expect to spend double that in recovery over the next few weeks.
“We also see the loss. On a day like today, there would be trail users swarming us with bikes and runners, people getting ice cream across the street, getting their lunch at the market. That is not the case today,” Long said.
Bikers who haven’t left the area who had plans to explore the Kingdom on the trails have been forced to spend their time on the gravel roads. Like Deborah Leedale Brown of the National Interscholastic Cycling Association, who came all the way from Philadelphia just to be rained out.
“Monday was a great day, we did some skills in the morning. We all got out on the trails in the afternoon. Then, obviously, the storms came. And yesterday, was, yeah, it was tragic. This was an area that was hit so hard,” Leedale Brown said.
Officials with Kingdom Trails say more than 100 miles of the trail network have been affected, and it has a huge trickle effect on businesses in Burke.
“I think the Kingdom Trails being shut down is probably affecting us more. By not having some people in town, with the trails being affected, getting the tourism dollars in here. I mean, that’s how we pay our bills, from Kingdom Trails,” said Burton Hinton of the East Burke Market.
The Kingdom Trails network should be opening slowly over this week. Officials say they hope to have full trail access by the weekend.