Recovery work is ramping up in Yellowstone National Park following this week's historic flooding/NPS file

Just four days removed from historic flooding that ravaged parts of Yellowstone National Park, recovery efforts are gaining speed with the help of more than 1,000 partnering organizations from surrounding communities, counties, and states. While water levels have subsided since Monday when raging rivers tore out sections of the North Entrance and Northeast Entrance roads, they remain high, the park reported Friday.

Though the park remains closed to visitors -- that is expected to change next week -- National Park Service teams are assessing damage around the park and planning both short-term and long-term recovery work. At the same time, unseasonally warm weather that returned to the park on Friday has the potential to create more flooding.

Heavy rains falling on snowpack that was already melting due to warm temperatures last Sunday into Monday unleashed devastating flood waters that chewed through the park road east of Mammoth Hot Springs and Tower through the Lamar Valley to Silvergate and Cooke City in Montana as well as the road from Mammoth Hot Springs north to Gardiner, Montana.

There existed the possibility that the sewer line that ran from Mammoth Hot Springs beneath the Gardner River to the town of Gardiner had been broken and was leaking raw sewage. Water and power lines around Mammoth also had been impacted. A house owned by the National Park Service in Gardiner that six park workers and their families called home was pulled into the raging waters and washed five miles downstream.

As the floodwaters swelled, park staff safely were able to evacuate an estimated 10,000 visitors from the park, including backcountry travelers.

With the northern half of the park above Canyon and Norris expected to remain closed once the southern half reopens, park staff is analyzing how much visitation can safely be handled. Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly has said the park might resort to a timed-entry reservation system to manage visitation.

Also being looked at is just how much of the park can reopen to visitors. Those decisions will depend on extent of damage and the ability of the Park Service to safely open additional sections as the year progresses.

“We have made tremendous progress in a very short amount of time, but have long way to go,” Sholly said Friday in a prepared statement. “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.”

While access to the park will remain restricted when it does reopen, Park Service staff pointed to "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."

Visitors who have trips to the park planned for later this summer should continue to check the Yellowstone website, local chambers of commerce, and social media for updates to get the most up-to-date information.

Looking ahead, park staff outlined the following 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 Damage

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 atgo.nps.gov/YELLflood.

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