Grove campground could partially reopen today

Forestry officials are hoping the popular Grove Campground at Laurel Lake will be at least partially open today following a lightning strike last Thursday that knocked out a sewer lift station and caused waterlines to burst.
U.S. Forest Service District Ranger John Strojan said a private electrical contractor and officials from Cumberland Valley RECC were on site Monday assessing and repairing damage caused by the strike. At the same time, Forestry officials were working to repair water lines ruptured by the strike.
“Lightning strikes aren’t unusual in a forest setting. We’ve had them in the past, but none that have caused that much damage. It’s pretty powerful stuff and it can do a lot.”
Almost all of the campers staying at the campground were given vouchers to use on a return visit, or relocated to the Holly Bay campground. Strojan said the campground had to be closed because there is no way to get rid of sewage until the lift station is fixed.
“That’s really critical and we could not power it at all,” he said. “Without that, we’d have sewage overflowing.”
J.J. and Lola Johnson, a Texas couple who manage the campground from April until November, said the lighting hit a tree behind one of the 52 campsites, and then surged through an electricity pedestal used to power campers and recreational vehicles. The current traveled to another nearby pedestal and melted it, then burst holes in water lines in three different locations in the campground.
J.J. Johnson said a couple from Wisconsin was staying at the campsite when the strike happened.
“The guy’s wife said she saw it hit the tree, come down and hit the pole, come across the site and then a big white ball of it hit her husband,” he said. “He got up and got into the van and was OK. She said it was a ball of lightning, of course nobody really knows what happened. They were going to stay another night, but I think they began to recognize what had happened and got scared. I think it really got to them.”
The couple said the campground was at capacity when the strike happened. It is an extremely popular site because of the privacy afforded by the spacing of campsites coupled with its unique sense of community.
“We love it down here,” Lola Johnson said. “This is the best place in the country. It’s the people, more than anything else.”
J.J. Johnson said water spewed from the ground in three places before it was shut off last week. Though the pump station is offline, some of the campsites do still have power.
Strojan said he did not yet have an estimate of how much repairing the damage will cost. He added that if possible, the campground would be partially reopened.
“We will just have to take it as it comes and see what progresses,” he said. “We really want to get it back open. We know a lot of people like using it.”