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The Wildlife Conservation Society announced that Prospect Park Zoo is now closed indefinitely as a result of damage incurred during tropical storm Ophelia on September 29.
As first reported by Gothamist, the rain filled the basement of two on-site buildings with 25 feet of water, extensively damaging its heating systems and power.
According to an official statement by the Wildlife Conservation Society, the zoo has been able to operate during the past two weeks through the use of generators. "Temporary boilers will be employed to provide heat as necessary in the upcoming months," reads the statement.
“The animals are in great shape, but the infrastructure is where the impact was,” said Craig Piper, the Wildlife Conservation Society's director of city zoos, in an official statement to Gothamist. “And so that's going to take us a long time to be able to get that fully repaired and restored.”
Although repairs are already underway, the extent of the issues hasn't yet been determined so no official re-opening date has been announced.
“There has been millions of dollars of damage to the Prospect Park Zoo,” Piper noted in the official release. “As we move from triage to restoration of the facilities, we will continue to assess when we will reopen to the public. We have pumped the water out of all flooded basements and restoration is fully underway.”
As for the animals, a spokesperson for the park told us that "none were affected nor were exhibits so no need to relocate [them]" during the renovation.
The silver lining: the zoo is taking this opportunity to rebuild its structures taking climate change into account, hoping to prevent a similar occurrence to happen once more.
“Throughout New York City and elsewhere, we all are facing extreme weather conditions which are unprecedented,” reads Piper's statement. “We plan to restore Prospect Park Zoo and its critical infrastructure in ways that will prevent future flooding of our facilities. Prospect Park Zoo suffered significant damage during storms Henri and Ida two years ago and we expect these extreme weather patterns will continue in the future due to climate change.”