Outside Yellowstone, flooded towns struggle to recover

In the wake of floods near Yellowstone National Park in Montana, tourist spots are already on the road to recovery. But smaller harder hit towns struggle.

Harley Holmes, 8, cleans out her room as her family is forced to leave their home left damaged by severe flooding in Fromberg, Mont., Friday, June 17, 2022. (AP Photo/David Goldman) (AP) Lindi O'Brien walks through mud to look at the barn of her parent's home that was badly damaged by the severe flooding in Fromberg, Mont., Friday, June 17, 2022. (AP Photo/David Goldman) (AP) Yokie Johnson cleans tables 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. (AP Photo/David Goldman) (AP)

Elected officials who showed up to tour the damage in Red Lodge and Gardiner — Montana tourist towns that serve as gateways to Yellowstone — haven't made it to Fromberg to see its devastation. O'Brien said the lack of attention is no surprise given the town's location away from major tourist routes.

She said she's not resentful but resigned to the idea that if Fromberg is going to recover, its roughly 400 residents will have to do much of the work themselves."We take care of each other," O'Brien said as she and two longtime friends, Melody Murter and Aileen Rogers, combed through mud-caked items scattered across her property. O'Brien, an art teacher for the local school, had been fixing up her parents' home with hopes of turning it into a vacation rental. Now she's not sure it's salvageable."When you get tired and get pooped, it's OK to stop," O'Brien said to Murter and Rogers, whose clothes, hands and faces were smeared with mud.Yellowstone will partially reopen at 8 a.m. Wednesday, more than a week after more than 10,000 visitors were forced out of the park when the Yellowstone and other rivers went over their banks after being swelled by melting snow and several inches of rainfall.Park officials said Sunday that they hope to reopen the park's northern loop within the next two weeks, after saying previously that it would likely stay closed through the summer season. The northern loop would give visitors access to popular attractions including Tower Falls and Mammoth Hot Springs. But they'd still be bared from the Lamar Valley, which is famous for its prolific wildlife including bears, wolves and bison that can often be seen from the roadside.Meanwhile, outside of the population centers that border the park, there's a maze of damaged roads. A key bridge that leads to the town of Fishtail collapsed, causing traffic to divert through a single-lane county road. There are about 500 people in Fishtail.