Effective at 8:30 a.m today, the locks at Deep Creek, Virginia and South Mills, North Carolina will retur to their normal operating schedule to accommodate vessels desiring to u.se the D ismal Swamp Canal of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.
The locks will be operated at 8:30 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 1:30 p.m., and 3:30 p.m. seven days per week. The drawbridges adjacent to these locations will operate as normal and in conjunction with the lock openings. Vessels are allowed to moor overnight in the canal. There will only be one operator at Deep Creek and one at South Mills, so the bridge will not be manned when the lock is being operated, and vice versa. Locks and bridges monitor channel 13.
The latest surveys of AIWW-Deep Creek, AIWW-Dismal Swamp Canal, and AIWW- Turners Cut are available at : http://www.nao.usace.army.mil/HydroSurveys/.
Below is the earlier story
The Dismal Swamp Canal is temporarily closed to navigation. The locks and drawbridges will resume their normal schedule when the trees blocking the waterway can be removed, according to the Norfolk District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The trees were downed Friday when a severe storm swept throught South Mills, N.C.
South Mills is no stranger to storms, and residents were quoted as saying the storm damage was worse than that of Hurricane Matthew in 2016. Many thought that the town had been struck by a tornado but that has not been confirmed.
The Daily Advance of nearby Elizabeth City quoted Ellen Barbetta as saying, “It was so loud, you couldn’t see outside the windows. I thought the hail was going to break my bedroom window.”
The Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal, through the Great Bridge Lock in Chesapeake, Virginia, will be open 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. Operators monitor Channel 13. Those planning to use the Dismal Swamp Canal are advised to refer to Coast Guard Notice to Mariners, contact lock operators at 757-547-3311, or call the Norfolk District office of the Army Corps at 757-201-7642.
