Storm takes Branson mountain coaster offline

Less than a year after opening, Branson Mountain Adventure Park’s main attraction has temporarily closed because of storm damage.

The $5 million park’s mountain coaster dubbed The Runaway sustained damage from flooding on Saturday night, said co-owner Dan Ruda. Drone video footage from MO Drone Art shows extensive damage where the coaster crosses over a creek. Parts of the coaster were knocked down and left sitting in the creek.

Declining to estimate damages, Ruda said it would take at least a month to repair the coaster. He said the portion of the attraction that was hit was a bridge over the creek directly before a mechanical lift hill that raises the coaster.

“All the debris came down on it and put a tremendous amount of force on that bridge,” he said.

Branson Mountain Adventure Park opened in August. Its 4,900-foot long coaster designed and built by Cohoes, New York-based Aquatic Development Group Inc. utilizes a nearly 400-foot natural slope on hills adjacent to Fall Creek. A second Branson mountain coaster dubbed The Branson Coaster is scheduled to be finished this summer.

Beyond Branson Mountain Adventure Park, city officials are still assessing storm damages, said city of Branson spokeswoman Jennifer Langford. She said the city received over 5 inches of rain on Saturday.

Water from the storm crossed the 100-year floodplain, which refers to a flood that has a 1 percent chance of occurring once a year, according to CityofBranson.org. At least two were killed when a vehicle was washed off a roadway, according to a news release. One of the passengers is still missing.