Officials with the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources closed Presque Isle State Park at noon on Monday. 

Park Operations Manager Matt Greene said the decision was made for the safety of park visitors, based on a weather event bringing very high winds and waves. "This one’s going to be quite an impact on the park for sure," Green said, "if the projections are right and it does come up to 8 feet above the low water datum, we’re going to see probably around 60 to 70 percent of the park being underwater at some point, which is historic for us."

Greene expects both the in and outbound roads on the park to be underwater.  In addition, there is the danger of debris on the roadways and trails as well, if the winds take down a lot of trees.

Park rangers closed the gate and put up the closing sign at noon. Visitors coming into the park had to turn their cars around.  Rangers also notified people already inside the park that they had to leave.

Presque Isle State Park trails are always popular. They've been especially busy lately as people look for a way to walk, get some fresh air and social distance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mary Dwyer and Juan Llarena regularly walk at Presque Isle with their dog.  "It has been our mental health," said Mary.  I’m a mental health therapist so I’m a strong believer in nature, and so grateful--we live very close to the peninsula on purpose, so this has been a real treasure for us." 

The couple was disappointed to see the park closed sign go up, but they understand the high water issues already very evident at the park this season.  "We volunteer, we’re DCNR volunteers here at the peninsula and we’ve been just shocked at the level of high water in the past week," Mary said.  "I’ve walked daily from Beach 1 to Beach 5, it’s unbelievable the erosion," she added.

Matt Greene said he knows the importance of keeping the park open to the public anytime, not just during the COVID-19 circumstances. "Obviously our maintenance staff, they’re essential employees for us, we’re going to get 'em in, assess the situation for us, we what we can get open as fast as we can get open, because we know it is a very important thing to have the park for the general public here in the local area and the region and we’re going to maintain the accessibility as much as we can," Greene said.

Park officials expect the high water to begin receding overnight.  Crews will get in to assess the damage Tuesday morning.