Millions of tourists are drawn each year to the wilderness and active geysers in Yellowstone, which sprawls across more than two million acres in the northwest corner of Wyoming and into Montana and Idaho. In 2021, more than 4.8 million people visited, a significant increase over previous years.
The storm that caused the flooding and mudslides this week began with two to three inches of rain over the weekend. Combined with warming temperatures that melted 5.5 inches of snow, the rain created the flood.
Hundreds of homes were flooded in communities north of the park in Montana, including Gardiner and Cooke City, which were also cut off from supplies of food and clean water, officials said. Floodwaters knocked out the water plant in the state’s largest city, Billings, leaving less than two days of supplies for residents. On Wednesday, Montana’s lieutenant governor requested a presidential major disaster declaration.
Ominously, some forecasts suggest more warmth and rain in four to five days, even as another foot of snow remains on Yellowstone’s mountains, raising the possibility of yet another series of floods, Mr. Sholly said.
Bill Berg, one of three commissioners in Park County, Mont., said he feared that a number of hotels and restaurants in the area might go out of business with the park’s northern entrance closed for the season. Summer is when most businesses make the bulk of their money, he said.
He said this week’s flooding was by far the worst he had seen in 50 years living in the area. He watched as the river swelled and carried full-grown trees downstream. On Wednesday, standing on the river’s edge, he gave an inventory of the debris left behind: piles of logs, pillows, toys, cabinets and a solitary cross-country ski.
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/15/us/yellowstone-national-park-floods.html
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