Yellowstone Rockslide Nearly Crushes Car; Parts May Close For Season

GARDINER, MT — Harrowing new video showed a rockslide nearly crushed a car at Yellowstone National Park amid historic flooding that forced thousands to evacuate and could result in much of the park closing for the season.

As Montana Patch previously reported, record levels of flooding washed away homes, roads and bridges in and around Yellowstone, leaving some communities isolated and forcing all park entrances to close through at least Wednesday. The flooding came following torrential rain and rapidly melting snowpack, just as the summer tourist season ramped up.

Photos and videos (some with graphic language) posted on Twitter show a bridge near Tom Miner Basin being washed away by raging waters in the Yellowstone River.

Daniel Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau, tweeted Wednesday that 87 people were rescued by the Montana National Guard. Helicopters flew for more than 41 hours.

On Tuesday evening, the National Parks Service said the northern portion of the park would likely remain closed for a "substantial length of time due to severely damaged, impacted infrastructure."

Photos showed an entire section of the North Entrance Road between Gardiner and Mammoth Hot Springs collapsed into the river.

Here are five things to know about the historic Yellowstone flooding:

1. On Tuesday, an eight-second video (containing graphic language) was posted on Instagram showing a rockslide nearly crush a red SUV at the park. Anne Leppold, who recorded the video, tweeted that it happened at Gardiner's north entrance station Sunday.

Parks officials said the road was washed out in multiple places and there was a significant rockslide at Gardner Canyon on the north entrance from Gardiner to Mammoth Hot Springs.

A segment of road was washed out from Tower Junction to the northeast entrance, near Soda Butte Picnic Area. Mudslides and downed trees were reported in the area as well.

In addition, a mudslide was reported on the road from Tower-Roosevelt to Canyon Junction (Dunraven Pass).

2. Park officials said more than 10,000 visitors have fled the park due to flooding.

"Because it's mid-June, because Yellowstone has a lot of backcountry use, we had a large number of backcountry users and campers that we've tracked, made contact with. We have put a full closure of the Yellowstone backcountry into place," Cam Sholly, superintendent of the park, told The Associated Press.

3. The northern portion of Yellowstone will likely remain closed for a "substantial length of time" due to severely damaged and impacted roads and bridges. Aerial assessments Monday showed major damage to multiple sections of road between the north entrance in Gardiner and Mammoth Hot Springs, Lamar Valley and Cooke City, near the northeast entrance.

"Many sections of road in these areas are completely gone and will require substantial time and effort to reconstruct," parks officials said.

It is likely that road sections in northern Yellowstone will not reopen this season.

4. All inbound visitor traffic is banned, for now, at the five entrances into the park. This includes visitors with lodging and camping reservations. The ban remains in place until conditions improve and park infrastructure can be assessed.

Power continues to be out at multiple locations in the park, and water and wastewater systems at Canyon Village and Mammoth Hot Springs were impacted by flooding.

5. However, the park’s southern loop appears to be less affected than the northern roads. Teams are assessing damage in the southern section to determine if it can reopen earlier. This closure will extend at least through Sunday.

"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," the park system said.

Sholly said the water will likely subside sometime next week.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.