Bell's Still Cleaning Up After The Storm

Crews are still hard at work to rebuild and reopen Bell's Amusement Park. It took a direct hit from a microburst storm about a week and a half ago. Many families' summer plans also took a hit.

Thursday, June 15th 2006, 3:38 pm

By: News On 6

Crews are still hard at work to rebuild and reopen Bell's Amusement Park. It took a direct hit from a microburst storm about a week and a half ago. Many families' summer plans also took a hit. News on 6 anchor Craig Day takes a look.

The rides are idle. There are none of the usual sights and sounds at Bells. There are no customers, but plenty of work is taking place.

Robby Bell, Bell's Amusement Park: "Mother nature has been kind to us since the storm. It's been a little hot, but we haven't had any real weather to contend with so we've been able to get a lot of work done."

There's a lot of work thanks to a sudden Microburst storm. The park's Ferris Wheel was bent in half, and a tree fell onto the track of the Zingo roller coaster. There was also damage to other rides and various buildings.

Robby Bell, Bell's Amusement Park: "The storm was just peculiar. It just hit some areas of the park and some areas it missed completely."

Robby Bell says once the debris was picked up, the park had to do a complete detailed examination of every single ride. Crews are now working to fix things found during that search.

Robby Bell, Bell's Amusement Park: "Every single aspect of the park. From the Zingo to the ice machine in my concession stands. We have to check everything. Because it wasn't just the Ferris Wheel that was affected. It was a massive storm. It hit a whole bunch of areas around here, so everything has to be checked from head to toe."

In the meantime, the park remains closed. It's the longest Bells has ever been closed during an operating season in more than 50 years of business. Bell says it is still too soon to say when the popular amusement park will reopen.