Post date: Jul 04, 2013 6:25:52 PM
The Statue of Liberty reopens to visitors with a July 4 ceremony on Liberty Island.
LIBERTY ISLAND, NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JULY 4, 2013) (NBC) - Lady Liberty reopened her doors to visitors on Thursday (July 4), more than eight months after its home island in New York Harbor was flooded and wrecked by Superstorm Sandy.
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg attended the Independence Day opening ceremony on Liberty island.The Statue of Liberty was protectively closed by the National Park Service last October as the historic storm approached.
Before the shutdown in October, the statue had been open for only a day following a year-long renovation.
The statue itself was left largely unscathed by the historic storm, but floodwaters left docks, buildings, walkways and electrical systems badly damaged or even destroyed on Liberty Island between lower Manhattan and New Jersey. About 75 percent of the island was covered by the storm surge.
Also damaged was nearby Ellis Island, where there is a museum in what was once the United States' principal immigration office. Officials said 100 percent of Ellis Island was covered by water during Sandy.
Both islands have been off-limits to the public since the storm.
About 3.5 million people visit Liberty Island in a typical year, according to theNational Park Service. The copper-clad statue, a gift from France to the United States, was dedicated in 1886 and declared a national monument in 1924.