Nature's forces on display in Yellowstone flood
Fox News
Yellowstone National Park suffered a frightening flood this week as warm rains combined with a rapidly melting snowpack to overwhelm waterways.
A road ends where floodwaters washed away a house in Gardiner, Mont., Thursday, June 16, 2022. (AP Photo/David Goldman) A house sits in Rock Creek after floodwaters washed away a road and a bridge in Red Lodge, Mont., Wednesday, June 15, 2022. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Receding floodwaters flow past sections of North Entrance Road washed away at Yellowstone National Park in Gardiner, Mont., Thursday, June 16, 2022. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Jackson Muller, left, and Christie Davis, sit in a raft with Bonnie, the owners dog of Flying Pig Adventures, a rafting and adventure company along the Yellowstone River, in Gardiner, Mont., Wednesday, June 15, 2022. Historic floodwaters have closed Yellowstone National Park impacting the local economy which relies heavily on tourism. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Receding floodwaters flow past sections of North Entrance Road washed away at Yellowstone National Park in Gardiner, Mont., Thursday, June 16, 2022. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Volunteers clean out a flooded basement Thursday, June 16, 2022, in in Red Lodge, Mont. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) David Armstrong dumps a bucket of water from a flooded basement Wednesday, June 15, 2022, in Red Lodge Mont. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson) Yokie Johnson turns off a lamp at the end of the night at MontAsia, the restaurant she runs with her husband in Fishtail, Mont., Thursday, June 16, 2022. The main road into Fishtail was washed away by the recent floodwaters and Johnson worries the lack of traffic will hurt their business. She said they didn't have a single customer come in for lunch today. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Residents clean out a flooded basement Wednesday, June 15, 2022, in Red Lodge, Mont. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson) A resident carries out damaged items from his flooded home along a washed out street in Red Lodge, Mont., Wednesday, June 15, 2022. (AP Photo/David Goldman) A resident fixes a fence damaged from Rock Creek floodwaters as a car rests in a washed out street in Red Lodge, Mont., Wednesday, June 15, 2022. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Toys lay out to dry in the sun Wednesday, June 15, 2022, in Red Lodge, Mont. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson) Cheryl Pruitt holds a damaged Mother's Day frame given to her daughter by her grandkids as she helps clean out their flooded home in Red Lodge, Mont., Wednesday, June 15, 2022. On Wednesday, residents in Red Lodge, a gateway town to Yellowstone Park's northern end, used shovels, wheelbarrows and a pump to clear thick mud and debris from flooded homes along the banks of Rock Creek. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Kirstyn Brown, right, cleans out damaged clothing from her flooded home with the help of her mother, Cheryl Pruitt, rear, and her sister-in-law, Randi Pruitt, in Red Lodge, Mont., Wednesday, June 15, 2022. (AP Photo/David Goldman) A child's muddy bedroom that had flooded is seen Wednesday, June 15, 2022, in Red Lodge, Mont. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson) (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson) Pedestrians walk down a street washed away from Rock Creek floodwaters in Red Lodge, Mont., Wednesday, June 15, 2022. (AP Photo/David Goldman) (AP Photo/David Goldman) Pedestrians pass a motel in Red Lodge, Mont., while surveying the damage after floodwaters receded, Wednesday, June 15, 2022. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Alecia Halona dumps a bucket of debris into a trailer Wednesday, June 15, 2022, in Red Lodge, Mont. She responded to an online posting requesting help to clean out houses on a street that flooded when torrential rains swelled waterways across the Yellowstone region. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson) Highway workers inspect a washed out bridge along the Yellowstone River Wednesday, June 15, 2022, near Gardiner, Mont. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
The park evacuated 10,000 visitors and has closed its gates while it assesses damage to bridges, roads, trails and facilities. Residents of hamlets downstream cleaned up the mess from hundreds of swamped homes, pumping and dumping buckets of chunky brown water outside.