HELENA, Mont. (AP) – A torrent of rain combined with a rapidly melting layer of snow caused a flood of floods that forced parts of Yellowstone National Park to be evacuated, cutting off electricity and forcing park officials to close. all tickets indefinitely, as well as the summer tourist season. it was increasing.
Although many houses and other structures were destroyed, there were no immediate reports of injuries. Yellowstone officials said they were assessing the damage caused by the storms, which ravaged bridges, caused mudslides and left small towns isolated, forcing evacuations by boat and helicopter.
It is unclear how many visitors are stranded or forced to leave the park and how many people living outside the park have been rescued and evacuated.
Some of the worst damage occurred in the northern part of the park and in the communities at the Yellowstone Gateway in southern Montana. Photos from the North Yellowstone National Park Service showed a landslide of mud, bridges and roads undermined by the floodwaters of the Gardner and Lamar rivers.
The flood cut off road access to Gardiner, Montana, a town of about 900 people near the confluence of the Yellowstone and Gardner rivers, just outside the busy north entrance of Yellowstone. Cooke City was also isolated by the waters and evacuations were also made for residents in Livingston.
Park County officials, who cover those cities, said on Monday evening on Facebook that heavy flooding across the county had made drinking water unsafe in many areas. Evacuations and rescues were underway and officials urged people who were in a safe place to spend the night.
The Montana National Guard said Monday it sent two helicopters to southern Montana to help with evacuations.
Cory Mottice, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Billings, Montana, said rain is not in the immediate forecast and that cooler temperatures will reduce snowmelt in the coming days.
“This is a flood we’ve never seen before in our lives,” Mottice said.
Scientists say climate change is responsible for more intense and frequent extreme events, such as storms, droughts, floods and forest fires, although unique meteorological events cannot normally be directly related to climate change without extensive study. .
The Yellowstone River in Corwin Springs reached 13.88 feet (4.2 meters) on Monday, more than the previous record of 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) set in 1918, according to the National Weather Service.
In a Gardiner hut, Parker Manning had a close-up view of the rising water and the river bank draining into the Yellowstone River flooding right in front of his gate.
“We started to see whole trees floating down the river, rubble,” Manning, who comes from Terra Haute, Indiana, told The Associated Press. “I saw a crazy kayaker coming down, who was a little crazy.”
On Monday evening, Manning saw running water undermine the opposite bank of the river, causing a house to fall into the Yellowstone River and float almost intact.
The floodwaters flooded Red Lodge Street, a 2,100-person Montana city that is a popular starting point for a scenic, winding route to Yellowstone. Twenty-five miles (40 kilometers) northeast of Joliet, Kristan Apodaca wiped away her tears as she stood in front of a demolished bridge, The Billings Gazette reported.
Her grandmother’s log cabin, which died in March, was flooded, as was the park where Apodaca’s husband proposed to her.
“I’m sixth grade. This is our home,” he said. “I literally drove that bridge yesterday. My mom drove it at 3 in the morning before it was washed.”
On Monday, Yellowstone officials evacuated the northern part of the park, where roads could remain impassable for a substantial amount of time, park superintendent Cam Sholly said in a statement.
But flooding also affected the rest of the park, and park officials warned of even greater flooding and potential problems with water supply and wastewater systems in developed areas.
Rainfall hit during the high tourist season: June, at the start of an annual surge of more than 3 million visitors that doesn’t subside until fall, is one of Yellowstone’s busiest months.
Yellowstone received 2.5 inches (6 inches) of rain on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. The Beartooth Mountains northeast of Yellowstone reached 10 inches, according to the National Weather Service.
In south-central Montana, floodwaters on the Stillwater River stranded 68 people in a camp. Stillwater County Emergency Services agencies and teams with the Stillwater Mine rescued people Monday from Woodbine Camp in a raft. Some roads in the area are closed due to flooding and residents have been evacuated.
“We will assess the loss of homes and structures when the waters recede,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
The flooding occurred while other parts of the U.S. burned in a hot, dry climate. More than 100 million Americans have been warned to stay inland as a heat wave settles over states along parts of the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes and east to in the Carolinas.
Elsewhere in the west, crews from California to New Mexico are battling wildfires in hot, dry, windy weather.
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Associated Press writers Thomas Peipert in Denver, Mead Gruver in Fort Collins, Colorado, and Lisa Baumann in Bellingham, Washington, contributed to this report.