By Bill Raack, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – Portions of several Missouri state parks remain closed more than a month after major flooding along the Meramec River.
Park officials say the floods left mud and debris strewn across some campgrounds and playgrounds at Castlewood and Route 66 state parks in the St. Louis area, as well as several others in central and eastern Missouri.
Deputy Director of Division of State Parks, Dan Page, says an exceptionally wet spring has hampered clean up efforts.
"The thing about the Meramec at Castlewood, we've had about four high water events. Everybody knows about the one but we've really had about four and that dayuse area gets flooded so we've got to go in there, scrape the road, get the parking lots cleaned up, check for any kind of debris on the grounds and everything," he said.
Page says playgrounds remain closed because the safety material around swing sets and slides was washed away by the floods. He says replacement material has been ordered.