UPDATE: Yellowstone National Park continues efforts to recover from historic flooding; Limited reopening highly possible next week on park’s south loop with certain visitor[...]

News Release Date:
June 17, 2022

Contact:Morgan Warthin, (307) 344-2015

UPDATE: June 17 at 9:45 a.m.

Yellowstone National Park continues efforts to recover from historic flooding; Limited reopening highly possible next week on park's south loop with certain visitor entrance modifications; Visitors traveling to park in coming weeks must stay informed about current situation, changes in visitor entry requirements, and road and weather conditions

Key Information

• Yellowstone continues major flood recovery efforts in the north while repairing damage and preparing for reopening in the south.
• All five park entrances remain closed temporarily, however, West, South, and East entrances are targeted for reopening as early as next week.
• Water levels remain high but have gone down substantially over the past 24 hours.
• Weather patterns and potential for additional flooding events are being monitored with the assistance of NOAA and USGS personnel.
• The National Park Service (NPS) has engaged over 1,000 partners in surrounding gateway communities, counties and states in the past 96 hours to brief on flood damage impacts and collaborate on reopening strategies.
• Teams are in the park assessing damage and assisting with short and long-term recovery planning.
• NPS is analyzing the carrying capacity of the south loop and working closely with partners to develop appropriate visitor management actions to safely accommodate visitors within that portion of the park.
• NPS is working to determine what other potential sections of the park may be reopened for the season. Decisions will depend on extent of damage and the ability of the NPS to safely open additional sections as the year progresses.
• Although access to Yellowstone National Park will be less than normal until further notice, there are still incredible opportunities for recreation, wildlife viewing, and great experiences in the park's gateway communities (Gardiner, Montana; Silver Gate and Cooke City, Montana; West Yellowstone, Montana; Cody, Wyoming; and Jackson, Wyoming), as well as surrounding areas in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. View a list of nearby cities, parks, public lands, and museums to help plan your visit.
• Visitors who have trips planned should continue to check the Yellowstone website, local chambers of commerce, and social media for updates to get the most up-to-date information.
• Because initial damage assessments are ongoing, the NPS does not yet have an estimate on when Yellowstone will fully reopen nor are preliminary costs for repairs and recovery available.
• To date, there have been no public or employee injuries reported due to the flood.

Message from the Superintendent

"We have made tremendous progress in a very short amount of time but have long way to go," said Superintendent Cam Sholly. "All emergency and life safety objectives within the park have been accomplished or stabilized within the first 96 hours of the flood event, without major injury or death. We have an aggressive plan for recovery in the north and resumption of operations in the south. We appreciate the tremendous support from National Park Service and Department of Interior leadership, in addition to our surrounding Congressional delegations, governors, counties, communities, and other partners. This first 96 hours has been critical to be able to focus on our life safety objectives and stabilizing emergency conditions while preparing plans for recovery."

Objectives

North Loop (Primary Flood Recovery Zone)

1. Ensure safety of employees, visitors, community residents and partners

2. Restore and maintain basic services including, power, water, and wastewater
3. Restore temporary and permanent access between Yellowstone and Gardiner
4. Restore temporary and permanent road access through the Northeast Entrance Road
5. Restore access to the Yellowstone backcountry
6. Engage communities, local, state, and federal stakeholders, and media

South Loop (Operations Zone)

1. Ensure safety of employees, visitors, and partners
2. Repair damaged sections of roads and infrastructure in preparation of limited south loop reopening; inspect critical infrastructure (bridges, wastewater systems)
3. Conduct extensive community outreach with gateways to identify and determine visitor use management actions necessary to host visitation on the south loop
4. Develop reservation/timed entry system options for implementation with NPS visitor use experts
5. Ensure internal business partners are prepared for visitor operations in the south loop
6. Develop appropriate communications strategy on opening of south loop

General Updates

North Loop (Flood Recovery Zone)

• All employees continue to be safe and accounted for. Additional support programs are being established for employees impacted by the flood event.
• Employees who lost housing have been relocated to new housing units.
• Thanks to Montana Department of Transportation and Park County Montana, Highway 89 north from Gardiner was reopened on Wednesday to facilitate the exit of stranded visitors.
• Food and water supplies to Gardiner have resumed.
• Power has been restored to Yellowstone with the assistance of Northwestern Energy.
• Destroyed wastewater lines in Mammoth have been temporarily repaired with permanent repair options being planned.
• Extensive efforts have been made to improve the Old Gardiner Road to help facilitate connection of essential services and personnel from Mammoth to Gardiner. Park staff are assessing what level of improvements are needed to facilitate higher traffic levels.
• Plans and assessments of reconstruction of new the permanent road between Mammoth and Gardiner are underway. The new road will likely not be reconstructed in the same corridor as the previous road.
• Teams from Federal Highways and other agencies are in the park assisting with damage assessments and assisting the park in developing cost estimates and timeline for repair.
• Aerial 3D imaging flights have been conducted on the Northeast Entrance Road to Cooke City to help with damage assessments.
• Extensive assessments are occurring of damage to trails, bridges and infrastructure within the Yellowstone backcountry.
• Mud and rockslides have been cleared from Dunraven Pass and other sections of the northern and southern loops.

South Loop (Operations Zone)

• The park intends to reopen the south loop sometime next week with new visitor management measures instituted (more information will be released soon). Reopening is dependent on damaged infrastructure being repaired.
• On Thursday morning, June 16, a section of damaged road collapsed south of Canyon Village. Crews will begin major repairs on Friday, June 17 with an intent to complete repairs by Monday, June 20. This repair must be completed prior to opening the south loop.
• Park staff are inspecting all bridges and roadways for damage on the south loop to facilitate safe travel.
• To ensure the southern loop infrastructure is not overwhelmed, the park is working with gateway communities and NPS visitor use experts to determine the best way to facilitate access.

Known Damageand Issues

• Aerial assessments conducted Monday, June 13 by Yellowstone National Park show major damage to several park roads including:
  • North Entrance (Gardiner, Montana) to Mammoth Hot Springs: road washed out in multiple places, significant rockslide in Gardner Canyon
  • Tower Junction to Northeast Entrance: segment of road washed out near Soda Butte Picnic Area, mudslides, downed trees
  • Tower-Roosevelt to Canyon Junction (Dunraven Pass): mudslide on road
  • Canyon Junction to Fishing Bridge: Segment of road just south of Canyon Junction is compromised and collapsed overnight on June 15-16. Repairs are underway.
• Many sections of road in these areas are completely gone and will require substantial time and effort to reconstruct or relocate and build.
• In some cases, roads may not be able to be reconstructed in place and will need to be relocated.
• The NPS will make every effort to repair these roads as soon as possible.

Stay Informed

• Visitors planning to travel to Yellowstone in the upcoming weeks should stay informed about the current situation and pay close attention to the status of road and weather conditions.
• Stay informed about up-to-date road conditions in Yellowstone:
  • Visit Park Roads.
  • To receive Yellowstone road alerts on your mobile phone, text "82190" to 888-777 (an automatic text reply will confirm receipt and provide instructions).
  • Call (307) 344-2117 for a recorded message.
• Find updates about flood recovery efforts and park operations at go.nps.gov/YELLflood.
• Find new photos Flickr of this extremely hazardous situation in Yellowstone National Park.
• Yellowstone will continue to communicate about this hazardous situation as more information is available.

UPDATE: June 14 at 6:38 p.m.

Northern portion of Yellowstone National Park likely to remain closed for a substantial length of time due to severely damaged, impacted infrastructure; Visitors traveling to park in coming weeks must stay informed about current situation, road and weather conditions

Updates

• Aerial assessments conducted Monday, June 13, by Yellowstone National Park show major damage to multiple sections of road between the North Entrance (Gardiner, Montana), Mammoth Hot Springs, Lamar Valley and Cooke City, Montana, near the Northeast Entrance.

• Many sections of road in these areas are completely gone and will require substantial time and effort to reconstruct.

• The National Park Service will make every effort to repair these roads as soon as possible; however, it is probable that road sections in northern Yellowstone will not reopen this season due to the time required for repairs.

• To prevent visitors from being stranded in the park if conditions worsen, the park in coordination with Yellowstone National Park Lodges made the decision to have all visitors move out of overnight accommodations (lodging and campgrounds) and exit the park.

• All entrances to Yellowstone National Park remain temporarily CLOSED while the park waits for flood waters to recede and can conduct evaluations on roads, bridges and wastewater treatment facilities to ensure visitor and employee safety.

• There will be no inbound visitor traffic at any of the five entrances into the park, including visitors with lodging and camping reservations, until conditions improve and park infrastructure is evaluated.

• The park's southern loop appears to be less impacted than the northern roads and teams will assess damage to determine when opening of the southern loop is feasible. This closure will extend minimally through next weekend (June 19).

• Due to the northern loop being unavailable for visitors, the park is analyzing how many visitors can safely visit the southern loop once it's safe to reopen. This will likely mean implementation of some type of temporary reservation system to prevent gridlock and reduce impacts on park infrastructure.

• At this time, there are no known injuries nor deaths to have occurred in the park as a result of the unprecedented flooding.

• Effective immediately, Yellowstone's backcountry is temporarily closed while crews assist campers (five known groups in the northern range) and assess damage to backcountry campsites, trails and bridges.

• The National Park Service, surrounding counties and states of Montana and Wyoming are working with the park's gateway communities to evaluate flooding impacts and provide immediate support to residents and visitors.

• Water levels are expected to recede today in the afternoon; however, additional flood events are possible through this weekend.

Known damageand issues

• Known damage (at this time) to some park roads includes:

  • North Entrance (Gardiner, Montana) to Mammoth Hot Springs: road washed out in multiple places, significant rockslide at Gardner Canyon

  • Tower Junction to Northeast Entrance: segment of road washed out near Soda Butte Picnic Area, mudslides, downed trees

  • Tower-Roosevelt to Canyon Junction (Dunraven Pass): mudslide on road

  • Canyon Junction to Fishing Bridge: Segment of road just south of Canyon Junction potentially compromised and closed for evaluation

• The power continues to be out in multiple locations in the park.

• Water and wastewater systems at Canyon Village and Mammoth Hot Springs are being impacted by flooding conditions and are being monitored.

Stay informed

• Visitors planning to travel to Yellowstone in the upcoming weeks should stay informed about the current situation and pay close attention to the status of road and weather conditions.

• Stay informed about up-to-date road conditions in Yellowstone:

  • Visit Park Roads.

  • To receive Yellowstone road alerts on your mobile phone, text "82190" to 888-777 (an automatic text reply will confirm receipt and provide instructions).

  • Call (307) 344-2117 for a recorded message.

• Find news releases about the incident on the park's website.

• Find photos on Flickr of this extremely hazardous situation in Yellowstone National Park.

• Yellowstone will continue to communicate about this hazardous situation as more information is available.

UPDATE: June 13, 2022 at 4:32 p.m.

• Please find a video just posted to Flickr that underscores the severity of the situation in Yellowstone National Park. The park's helicopter manager recorded the video from the park's helicopter of the Gardner River and portions of the road between Mammoth Hot Springs and the North Entrance through the Gardner Canyon. Segments of the paved road are eroded and washed out in several places due to high water levels.

• Yellowstone will continue to communicate about this hazardous situation as more information is available.

UPDATE: June 13, 2022 at 2:15 p.m.

All entrances to Yellowstone National Park CLOSED temporarily due to heavy flooding, rockslides, extremely hazardous conditions; Stay informed about road status and weather conditions

• Effective immediately, there will be no inbound visitor traffic at any of the five entrances into Yellowstone National Park on Tuesday, June 14, and Wednesday, June 15, at a minimum.

• Stay informed about up-to-date road conditions in Yellowstone:

  • Visit Park Roads.

  • To receive Yellowstone road alerts on your mobile phone, text "82190" to 888-777 (an automatic text reply will confirm receipt and provide instructions).

  • Call (307) 344-2117 for a recorded message.

• Find photos and videos on Flickr of this extremely hazardous situation in Yellowstone National Park.

• Yellowstone will continue to communicate about this hazardous situation as more information is available.

UPDATE: June 13, 2022 at 1:16 p.m.

Statement from superintendent Cam Sholly about all entrances in Yellowstone National Park CLOSED temporarily due to heavy flooding, rockslides, extremely hazardous conditions

"Due to record flooding events in the park and more precipitation in the forecast, we have made the decision to close Yellowstone to all inbound visitation," said superintendent Cam Sholly. "Our first priority has been to evacuate the northern section of the park where we have multiple road and bridge failures, mudslides and other issues. The community of Gardiner is currently isolated, and we are working with the county and State of Montana to provide necessary support to residents, who are currently without water and power in some areas. Due to predictions of higher flood levels in areas of the park's southern loop, in addition to concerns with water and wastewater systems, we will begin to move visitors in the southern loop out of the park later today in coordination with our in-park business partners. We will not know timing of the park's reopening until flood waters subside and we're able to assess the damage throughout the park. It is likely that the northern loop will be closed for a substantial amount of time. I appreciate the efforts of the Yellowstone team and partners to safely evacuate areas of the park and of our gateway community partners who are helping us through this major event. We appreciate the support offered by the Department of the Interior, National Park Service and the Montana and Wyoming governors."

Yellowstone will continue to communicate about this hazardous situation as more information is available.

UPDATE: June 13, 2022 at 11:10 a.m.

All entrances to Yellowstone National Park CLOSED temporarily due to heavy flooding, rockslides, extremely hazardous conditions; Stay informed about road status and weather conditions

• Effective immediately, all entrances to Yellowstone National Park are temporarily CLOSED due to substantial flooding, rockslides and mudslides on roadways from recent unprecedented amounts of rainfall and flooding.

• Effective immediately, no inbound visitor traffic will be allowed into the park until conditions stabilize and the park can assess damage to roads and bridges and other facilities. This includes visitors with lodging and camping reservations.

• Closed entrances include:

  • North

  • Northeast

  • West

  • South

  • East

• The power is out in multiple locations in the park.

• Visitors planning on coming to Yellowstone in the upcoming weeks should pay close attention to the status of road conditions.

• Many park roads may remain closed for an extended period of time.

• Preliminary assessments show multiple sections of roads throughout the park have been either washed out or covered in mud or rocks, and multiple bridges may be affected.

• Multiple roads in the southern portion of the park are also on the verge of being flooded, further restricting access.

• With additional rainfall forecasted, the park does not want large numbers of day-use visitors stranded in the park.

• Strains on wastewater and water treatment facilities could become a factor and the park is taking precautions to ensure facilities are not failing.

• The National Park Service, surrounding counties and state of Montana and Wyoming will work with the gateway communities to evaluate flooding impacts and provide support to residents.

• Rainfall is expected to continue for the next several days. Flood levels measured on the Yellowstone River are beyond record levels.

• Stay informed about up-to-date road conditions in Yellowstone:

  • Visit Park Roads.

  • To receive Yellowstone road alerts on your mobile phone, text "82190" to 888-777 (an automatic text reply will confirm receipt and provide instructions).

  • Call (307) 344-2117 for a recorded message.

• Find photos on Flickr of this extremely hazardous situation in Yellowstone National Park.

• Yellowstone will continue to communicate about this hazardous situation as more information is available.

June 13, 2022 at 9:21 a.m.

Roads in northern portion of Yellowstone National Park CLOSE temporarily due to heavy flooding, rockslides, extremely hazardous conditions; Stay informed about road status and weather conditions

• Effective immediately, roads in the northern portion of Yellowstone National Park are temporarily closed due to substantial flooding, rockslides and mudslides on roadways from recent unprecedented amounts of rainfall.

• The following roads are temporarily closed:

  • North Entrance (Gardiner, Montana) to Mammoth Hot Springs

  • Mammoth Hot Springs to Tower-Roosevelt

  • Tower-Roosevelt to the Northeast Entrance

  • Mammoth Hot Springs to Norris Junction

  • Canyon Junction to Tower-Roosevelt

• Some of these roads may remain closed for an extended period of time.

• Preliminary assessments show multiple sections of road in the park have been washed out between Gardiner and Cooke City, Montana, and multiple bridges may be affected.

• Visitors currently in the northern portion of the park are being evacuated.

• US Highway 89 S is closed at Yankee Jim Canyon due to approximately 3 feet of water on the road. Check the Montana Department of Transportation for road updates.

• The National Park Service, Park County, Montana, and state will work with the communities of Gardiner, Silver Gate and Cooke City to evaluate flooding impacts and provide support to residents.

• Crews will begin to assess damage in the southern portion of the park soon. Rainfall is expected to continue for the next several days.

• Stay informed about up-to-date road conditions in Yellowstone:

  • Visit Park Roads.

  • To receive Yellowstone road alerts on your mobile phone, text "82190" to 888-777 (an automatic text reply will confirm receipt and provide instructions).

  • Call (307) 344-2117 for a recorded message.

• Yellowstone will continue to communicate about this hazardous situation as more information is available.

• Find photos on Flickr of this extremely hazardous situation in Yellowstone National Park.

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