The UK's leading eco attraction, the Eden Project, has been forced to close until at least the beginning of next week after freak floods caused tens of thousands of pounds worth of damage.
The famous centre suffered damage after extreme weather triggered floods that have badly affected other parts of Devon and Cornwall. The site operators say the centre will now be closed until at least Sunday.
To avoid wasting the food usually being prepared for visitors, Eden Project chefs have started using the stocks of foods to prepare meals for some of the other locals who have also been badly affected by the torrential rain.
The food will be distributed around the St Austell and Lostwithiel areas
According to a statement, the operators of the eco centre, said: “There’s a lot of smart engineering and sophisticated drainage systems in place across the Eden site but despite this the extreme weather conditions throughout the night has caused major flooding.
“As the waters begin to recede, we’re now able to see the full extent of the damage that has been done by the torrential rain.
“The main areas that have been affected are our Link building that runs between the biomes, the area around the ice rink and our Visitor Centre at the top of the site. Thankfully, the million-plus plants in the biomes are okay and seem to have survived the torrential rains.”
The Eden Project's site safety manager Chris Hastings, added: “Despite the fact Eden is well-engineered to deal with excess rainwater, the deluge that came through last night was more than the site could deal with.
“We’re assessing the damage and it’s worse than originally anticipated so we’re remaining closed until the end of Friday at the earliest. We’re pumping out water as quickly as possible so it doesn’t affect our neighbouring properties.
“Our thoughts are with the many others in surrounding areas who are affected by the flooding. Our Eden team are working round the clock and we really appreciate their team spirit.”
A message on the attraction's website this morning stated: “The Eden Project is closed to visitors. We expect that we'll be closed until at least Sunday night (21 Nov) and will be reviewing the situation day-by-day.”
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