Hundreds of park service employees have been mobilized to address extensive damage on Blue Ridge Parkway

(WSET) — The entire length of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina and Virginia remains closed as crews continue to assess damage from Hurricane Helene.

To assist with recovery efforts, the National Park Service has deployed its Eastern Incident Management Team. It brings specialized skills and resources to support the Parkway with emergency employee needs, emergency stabilization of impacted park resources and damage assessments.

As of Saturday morning, 214 National Park Service employees, representing 57 national parks from 32 states and the District of Columbia, are working with Blue Ridge Parkway employees in the recovery efforts.

National Park Service assessment teams are still working on their initial inspections of the Parkway and collecting more data to analyze the full impact of Hurricane Helene.

RELATED: Entire Blue Ridge Parkway closed ‘indefinitely’ due to damage to Helene

Based on what crews have seen so far, significant and in some cases catastrophic damage has occurred along the Parkway, particularly from mile marker 280 to mile marker 469 in North Carolina,” the National Park Service said.

In the coming weeks, assessment teams will use data from their inspections to determine the full extent of damage, including the timeline and cost estimates for repairs. An expected reopening date for any portion of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Parkway has not yet been determined.

In Virginia, damage assessments and clearing of road debris are nearing completion, which will allow for a phased reopening in Virginia in the coming days to weeks.