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After Tropical Storm Hanna left a 125-foot breach in the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal towpath north of Old Angler's Inn Sept. 6, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park is facing not just a restoration challenge, but a funding challenge as well.

The National Park Service suspects that pre-existing cracks in the canal may have contributed to the failure, combined with increased pressure from the excess rainfall during the tropical storm. The cracks expanded, causing water to drain out into the Potomac River, and the pressure eventually lead to a large cavity in the towpath, according to the C&O Canal Trust.

Areas around the breach that are also unstable will need to be restored as well, according to park superintendent Kevin Brandt.

"It will pose a challenge, there's no doubt about that," Brandt said.

Brandt said that engineers were still determining the full extent and price tag of the repair, a task made difficult because the dangerous nature of the area. However, he estimated that the cost would be substantially more than $1 million.

"Our budget is never sized to handle a major repair like this," Brandt said.

Funding challenges are not new to the park, however. The C&O Canal Trust Web site cites a 2001 study indicating that the C&O Canal receives only 37 percent of needed funds. Brandt said that park officials would work with philanthropic sources, including partners like the C&O Canal Trust, to shore up the extra cash once they have arrived at an official cost estimate.

Brandt also said the regional and national offices of the National Park Service were aware of the situation.

"I won't say that they're sitting with a pen in hand ready to write a check, but they have an idea of how important the towpath is to the community and the region," Brandt said.

About 700,000 people a year visit the areas of the park near Old Angler's Inn and Great Falls Tavern, according to the National Park Service.

Because of the breach's location next to a steep slope and because the canal is a historic resource, repair may take two years, according to the C&O Canal Trust, and the area from Widewater to Lock 5 will most likely not contain water during that time.

"Frankly, it's major," said Matthew Logan, president of the C&O Canal Trust. "There's going to require a major capital investment to fully restore the section, and as we all know, NPS doesn't have big pots of money sitting around."

Logan said he was "stunned" at the extent of the damage. His group has organized a special towpath restoration fund, he said, to allow the public to contribute financially to the repair efforts.

Logan said that while his group would likely not utilize volunteers to help with the physical restoration, support of the community would nonetheless be essential.

"To the extent that it's diverting the main staff from their normal duties, we the community are going to have to pick up the slack," he said.

The section of the towpath that failed was closed off the Friday before the storm after a member of the bike patrol, a canal volunteer group, noticed cracks in the towpath. A detour has been set up around the breach via Berma Road, and the park service is hoping to soon create a more convenient detour using the "prism" of the canal — the interior of the canal that held water before the breach caused it to drain.

Bill Justice, chief of interpretation for the park, stressed that the area is still very dangerous and indicated that those who want to view the breach should do so from the detour. The breach continues to grow slowly, according to the C&O Canal Trust, with sections of the towpath still sliding into the canal.

Brandt said the damage was especially significant because of its location between two popular locations — Old Angler's Inn and Great Falls Tavern.

"Great Falls and Angler's are in the top two or three of all our visited areas in the entire park," Brandt said. "Clearly this breach, by separating the two, really causes a huge problem."

To donate to the restoration of the C&O Canal towpath, visit the C&O Canal Trust's Web site at www.canaltrust.org.