HELENA, Mont. (AP) – A torrent of rain combined with melting snow caused a flood of floods that forced the evacuation of parts of Yellowstone National Park, cutting off electricity and forcing park officials to close all entrances indefinitely, just as in the summer tourist season was growing.
Although many homes and other structures were destroyed, no immediate injuries were reported. Yellowstone officials said they assessed the damage from the storms, which took away bridges, caused mudslides and left small towns isolated, forcing evacuations by boat and helicopter.
It is unclear how many visitors were blocked or forced to leave the park and how many people living outside the park were rescued and evacuated.
Some of the worst damage has occurred in the northern part of the park and in the port communities of Yellowstone in southern Montana. Photos from the National Park Service in northern Yellowstone show a landslide, washed away bridges and roads undermined by raging floods on the Gardner and Lamar rivers.
The flood cut off access to Gardiner, Montana, a city of about 900 people near the confluence of the Yellowstone and Gardner rivers, just outside the busy northern entrance to Yellowstone. Cooke City was also isolated from the floods and evacuations were issued for Livingston residents.
Officials in the Park County, which covers these cities, said on Facebook on Monday night that extensive floods throughout the county have made drinking water dangerous in many areas. Evacuations and rescue operations continue, and authorities have urged people who were in a safe place to stay overnight.
The Montana National Guard said Monday it had sent two helicopters to southern Montana to help with the evacuation.
Corey Motis, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Billings, Montana, said the rain was not in the immediate forecast and lower temperatures would reduce snowmelt in the coming days.
“It’s a flood we’ve never seen in our lives before,” Motis said.
Scientists say climate change is responsible for more intense and frequent extreme events such as storms, droughts, floods and forest fires, although isolated weather events usually cannot be directly linked to climate change without in-depth study.
The Yellowstone River at Corwin Springs reached a height of 13.88 feet (4.2 meters) on Monday, higher than the previous record of 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) set in 1918, according to the National Weather Service.
At a hut in Gardiner Parker, Manning got a close-up view of the rising water and the river bank that erupted into the raging floods of the Yellowstone River right outside his door.
“We started seeing whole trees floating down the river, debris,” Manning, of Terra Haute, Indiana, told the Associated Press. “I saw a crazy single kayak coming down, which was kind of crazy.”
On Monday night, Manning watched the stormy waters undermine the opposite bank of the river, causing a house to fall into the Yellowstone River and sail away almost intact.
The flooding flooded a 2,100-strong street in Red Lodge, Montana, a popular starting point for a scenic, winding route to Yellowstone. Twenty-five miles (40 kilometers) northeast in Joliet, Kristen Apodaca wiped away tears as she stood across the street from a washed-out bridge, according to The Billings Gazette.
A wooden hut belonging to her grandmother, who died in March, was flooded, as was the park where Apodaca’s husband proposed marriage.
“I am the sixth generation. This is our home, “she said. “This bridge I literally drove yesterday. My mother drove it at 3 in the morning before washing it. “
Yellowstone officials evacuated the northern part of the park on Monday, where roads could remain impassable for a significant period of time, park superintendent Kam Sholi said in a statement.
But the floods also affected the rest of the park, with park officials warning of even greater flooding and potential problems with water and wastewater systems in developed areas.
The rains hit during the high tourist season: June, the beginning of an annual wave of more than 3 million visitors that does not subside until autumn, is one of the busiest months in Yellowstone.
Yellowstone received 2.5 inches (6 centimeters) of rain from Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The Beartooth Mountains northeast of Yellowstone have reached a full 4 inches (10 centimeters), according to the National Weather Service.
In south-central Montana, a flooding on the Stillwater River blocked 68 people at a campsite. Stilwater County emergency services and teams with the Stilwater mine rescued people from the Woodbine camp on Monday in a raft. Some roads in the area have been closed due to flooding and residents have been evacuated.
“We will assess the loss of homes and structures when the waters recede,” a statement from the sheriff’s office said.
The floods occurred while other parts of the United States were burning in hot and dry weather. More than 100 million Americans have been warned to stay indoors as a heat wave settles over states stretching across parts of the Persian Gulf coast to the Great Lakes and east to the Carolinas.
Elsewhere in the West, crews from California to New Mexico are battling wildfires in hot, dry and windy weather.
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Associated Press authors Thomas Papert of Denver, Mead Grover of Fort Collins, Colorado, and Lisa Bowman of Bellingham, Washington, contributed to the report.
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