WINTERSET, Iowa (AP) – Rainstorm damage to U.S. Highway 169 has required its closure north of Winterset, the site of Madison County’s annual Covered Bridge Festival.

Iowa Transportation Department officials told Des Moines television station KCCI they hope to have the highway reopened before the end of the year, but that largely depends on the weather.

People headed to the Oct. 11-12 Covered Bridge Festival will have to use Iowa Highway 92 or approach Winterset from the south.