Last month's Missouri River flooding left Tom Hanifan's Rivers Edge Park in Council Bluffs and Haworth Park in Bellevue underwater.
Although Haworth Park will remain closed for several more weeks, it gives the Bellevue Park District time to do some needed work.
"We're taking advantage of the flooding," parks superintendent Brian Madison said. "The boat ramps needed a lot of maintenance done and a lot of the still parts of them replaced, so we're currently in the process of fixing the boat ramps and making them a lot more better for our citizens."
Along the Missouri River, crews scooped up silt and hauled it away so Rivers Edge Park could reopen Friday.
"One of the nice things about this park is that is really was designed so cleanup could be accommodated.," parks superintendent Larry Foster said. "The parking lots are designed to accommodate that also."
What wasn't accommodating Friday afternoon was the gate greeting a married couple at N.P. Dodge Park. That gate remains closed due to last month's flooding.
"We're from the St. Louis area, we left at 8:30 this morning to come up here, we didn't know it flooded and we came up here and we just can't believe it's closed," Diana Schnapf said.
That means the couple had a nine-hour trip only to turn around.
"We come from near Washington, Missouri which is right on the Missouri River down in Franklin County and it's not flooded down there." Neil Schnapf said. "So we never expected this. We came across the Mormon Bridge, I said, 'Wow that river's really up,' and now we found out."
While visitors wait for park gates to reopen, park officials around the metro are working to ensure all facilities are in working order.
