Both the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island will remain closed to tourists indefinitely, a spokesman for the National Park Service confirmed.
Superstorm Sandy hit the city just one day after the interior of the Statue of Liberty was reopened, after a yearlong, $30 million refurbishment.
According to the official, there is no estimate on when the Statue of Liberty’s torch, which went dark during Hurricane Sandy, will again shine in New York’s harbor.
The New York Times reports that the dock at Liberty Island, where usually thousands of tourists disembark on a daily basis, may need to be rebuilt.
Statue Cruises, the company which operates a ferry service to the islands, confirmed they have stopped selling tickets and have no time scale for when service will resume.
At this time of year, normally, ferries transport around 7,500 passengers to the islands each day.
On Ellis Island, the museum, curatorial, and archival collections are fully intact, with staff offices suffering little or no flooding.
Mike Litterst, a spokesman for the “incident management team” for the Park Service told the Times while the Empire State’s pedestal and base had received “little or no damage.”
The basement of the building was flooded during the storm, cutting off power on Liberty Island.
He added that the security screening apparatus which are housed in a large tent on the the Battery Park waterfront was also “significantly damaged”.
Some tourists expressed their disappointment about the news when they commented on the Statue of Liberty’s Facebook page.
“Visiting the Statue of Liberty was something I had hoped to do this weekend.” Joe Sullivan wrote.
“Sandy was a destructive storm... the damage to Liberty Island is bad, but the damage to places like Staten Island is heartbreaking... parts of NYC look like Germany after WWII (SIC).”
Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island - 2 minute HD tour:
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