Niagara Gazette — New York State Parks officials Saturday closed the Cave of the Winds attraction at Niagara Falls early for the season after an overnight rockslide damaged the attraction.
The Cave of the Winds had been scheduled to close on Wednesday, along with the Maid of the Mist.
The rockslide was likely caused by heavy rains before the attraction was open Saturday morning, according to a parks spokesperson.
Tom Watt, general manager of the Falls park, said Saturday afternoon that several large rocks came down, damaging the walking path and several railings. In addition, several of the queuing gates were knocked over.
“It was probably four to six large rocks,” Watt said, estimating the largest to be about 18 inches in diameter and weighing around 200 pounds.
Other rocks along the cliff face appear to be poised to come down as well.
“It's definitely out of the ordinary,” Watt said, explaining smaller rocks will sometime fall onto the path throughout the season. State parks officials periodically send scaling crews to search for loose rocks along the gorge.
Watt said a team of regional engineers checked out the cliff near the Cave of the Winds and were reaching out to a scaling crew.
Watt said they could be on the scene by Monday to check things out — while tourists at the park won't be exposed to any dangers, crews scheduled to being bringing down the structures at the Cave of the Winds on Thursday could be.
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