Dangerous flooding caused by heavy rain and rapid snowmelt began to hit the park and several counties in southern Montana on Monday, washing or eroding roads and bridges and causing extensive damage to homes and businesses. The park on Monday closed all five Yellowstone entrances to Montana and Wyoming for inbound traffic – in part to prevent people from being trapped as conditions worsened – without a specific date for reopening. And park officials told visitors who were already there to leave – more than 10,000 have left the park since Monday, Park Superintendent Kam Soli said on Tuesday. Although colder temperatures and drier weather have allowed some parts of the swollen rivers to begin to recede, higher temperatures are expected later this week and over the weekend, which could cause more runoff from melting snow and therefore more flooding. , said CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller. “There will be no incoming traffic at any of the park’s five entrances, including visitors with booking and camping reservations, until conditions improve and the park’s infrastructure is assessed,” the park said in a statement. The rapid deterioration of road conditions in Yellowstone created painful evacuation conditions for some visitors, including the parents of supervising CNN producer Tim Carter, who had to get off a broken bridge. “When we went over it, it was really scary because the water was already swirling violently around the bridge,” said Martha Carter. “Later we learned that it had been rinsed.” Meanwhile, some surrounding communities were left without electricity or safe drinking water, as flood conditions made it impossible or dangerous to move and endanger water supplies. Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte declared disaster across the state on Tuesday and announced he would seek a speedy presidential declaration of disaster to help cover the cost of recovery. The Montana National Guard has evacuated at least 12 people stranded in Roscoe, Fromberg and Cook City since rescue efforts began Monday, the force said in a press release Tuesday. Dangerous floods are just one of many extreme weather events affecting communities across the United States, including a heatwave that has affected more than 100 million people and severe storms that have left hundreds of thousands without power in the Midwest and Ohio River valleys.

Dramatic floods cause evacuations and rescues

The rapid rise in water levels flooded homes, businesses and infrastructure in southern Montana on Monday, forcing many families to evacuate. But for some, roads and bridges have become impassable by flooding, leaving them trapped, sometimes without clean drinking water or electricity. The Montana National Guard deployed four helicopters to help evacuate the affected areas Monday and Tuesday and also sent troops to Red Lodge to set up a command center and assist in search and rescue efforts, the force said Tuesday. A helicopter company in Montana flew about 40 people from Gardiner, the city that serves as the gateway to an entrance to North Park and was isolated from the floods, Laura Jones told the Rocky Mountain Rotors. The road from Livingston to Gardiner reopened on Tuesday for local traffic, goods and services, but there is still “significant damage,” Park County Sheriff Brad Bichler told a news conference. Heavy rainfall and snowfall over the weekend in the Beartooth and Absaroka Mountains, which extend beyond the Montana-Wyoming border, created a “total water event of at least 4 to 9 inches,” the National Meteorological Service told Billings on Tuesday. This amount of runoff is similar to the area that receives rainfall for 2 to 3 months in June in just three days, according to CNN weather calculations. Conditions caused the Yellowstone River to overflow, crossing the park and several of the communities. The Yellowstone River in Corwin Springs reached a historic 13.88 feet on Monday afternoon, according to NOAA data, but fell to 9.34 feet on Tuesday night. Absarokee resident Tracy Planichek and her husband had just achieved their long-awaited goal of owning a brand new home when the threat of flooding forced them to evacuate. Now, he told CNN, he desperately hopes that the devastation seen on other homes, some of which have been swept away, has been averted.
“We could never afford a new home,” he said. “He is sitting at the top of the strip and we are hoping for a miracle from God that our house will be there.” At the park, officials forced all visitors to leave the accommodation and campgrounds and leave the park to avoid blocking anyone, the National Park Service said in a press release. The park averaged between 15,000 and 20,000 visitors in June, Sholly said. The park has also closed the backyard of Yellowstone and has been in contact with groups in the area. “We have contacted or know where every user in the country is in Yellowstone,” Soly said, noting that one group remained in the north. No helicopter evacuation was needed, he said. There were no reports of injuries or deaths from the flooding in the park, Sholly said, and officials did not believe the animals in the park had been significantly affected. The park’s southern loop “appears to be less affected by the north roads” and teams will try to determine when this loop may reopen. However, officials expect that even this loop will remain closed at least until Sunday, the park said in a statement. CNN’s Amanda Jackson, Caroll Alvarado and Claudia Dominguez contributed to this report.