RED LODGE, Mon. (AP) – This city near Yellowstone National Park has become a dead end, a victim of severe floods that tore apart one of America’s most beloved natural landmarks and swept away roads, bridges and homes.
The unprecedented flood closed the entire park and forced the evacuation of 10,000 visitors. And cities like Red Lodge, which lead to the northern entrances of Yellowstone and rely on tourists passing through, can suffer all summer.
Officials said the southern part of the park, which features the Old Faithful, could reopen next week. But the northern end, which includes Tower Fall and the bears and wolves of Lamar Valley, could remain closed for months after sections of main roads in Yellowstone were swept away or buried in a rock fall. The roads leading to the park also have widespread damage, which can take months to repair.
Red Lodge is facing a double disaster: it will have to clean up the damage caused by the floods in parts of the city, as well as figure out how to survive without the summer business that usually sustains it for the rest of the year.
“Winters are hard at Red Lodge,” Chris Prindiville said as he poured mud from the sidewalk in front of his closed cafe, which had no fresh water or gas for his stoves. “You have to make your money in the summer so you can make it when the bills keep coming and visitors stop.”
At least 88 people have been rescued by the Montana National Guard in the past few days from campsites and small towns, and hundreds of homes, including nearly 150 in Red Lodge, have been damaged by muddy water. A large house where six Gardiner Park employees lived was torn from its base and floated 5 miles (8 kilometers) downstream before sinking. Four to five homes could still collapse in the Stillwater River, which has already washed away several cabins, according to a Stillwater County spokesman.
There were no reports of deaths or serious injuries.
Red Lodge was advised to boil water, and trucks supplied drinking water to half of the city without it. Portable toilets were strategically located for those who could not flush at home.
The Yodeler Motel, once home to Finnish coal miners, has faced its first closure since it opened as a hut in 1964. Owner McDean said he would have to gut the lower level, where 13 rooms were flooded to the chest.
“Rock Creek seems to be taking its own course,” he said. “It just jumped over the bank and came right down Main Street and hit us.”
Dean was counting on a busy summer to mark the park’s 150th anniversary. Yodler had the most reservations in the 13 years Dean and his wife owned the business. He now hopes to receive help, possibly from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“The damage is catastrophic,” he said. “We are between stone and anvil. And if we don’t get some help, we won’t succeed. “
Yellowstone is one of the jewels in the crown of the park system, a popular summer playground that attracts adventure tourists camping in the grizzly bear country, ordinary tourists passing smoky geothermal elements, nature lovers watching moose, bison, bears and wolves from the safety of its cars and amateur photographers and artists trying to capture the pink and gold hues of the rocks of Yellowstone Grand Canyon and its thundering waterfall.
All 4 million visitors a year have to pass through the small towns bordering the five entrances to the park.
The floods – caused by a combination of torrential rain and rapid snowmelt – hit just as hotels around Yellowstone filled with summer tourists. June is usually one of the busiest months in Yellowstone.
President Joe Biden has declared a disaster in Montana, ordering federal aid.
The tourist season started well for Kara McGarry, who leads groups through the Lamar Valley to see wolves, bison, moose and bears. She had seen more than 20 grizzlies a few days this year.
Now that the road from Gardiner to North Yellowstone is blurred, wildlife is still there, but out of McGary’s reach. Her guidebook “In Our Nature” suddenly gets into trouble.
“The summer we have been preparing for is not at all like the summer we will have,” she said. “That’s an 80% to 100% loss of business during the high season.”
In Gardiner, the northern entrance to the park, the city escaped floods but was briefly home to hundreds of visitors to the park, blocked when the road to the city was closed along the raging Yellowstone River. They were not left around when it reopened on Tuesday.
“The city is sinister right now,” Katie Gale said Wednesday. “We had all these people caught here, and as soon as they opened the way, it was as if someone had just pulled the plug in the tub.”
Officials and business leaders hope Gardiner, Red Lodge and other small communities will attract visitors even without access to the park.
Sarah Ondrus, owner of Paradise Adventure Company, which rents cabins and glamping wigwams and offers rafting, kayaking and horseback riding, was disappointed to receive so many cancellations.
“Montana and Wyoming still exist. I don’t know how I can convince these people, “Ondrus said. “Once our water quality is good and our law enforcement agencies think it’s okay, we can go again. It is still a destination. You can still ride a horse, go cowboy cooking, walk in the national forest.
This can be a difficult task for anyone coming from the south or east of the park who was hoping to head north. Once the southern part of the park reopens, it will take nearly 200 miles (320 kilometers) of detour through West Yellowstone and Bozeman to reach Gardiner. It will require nearly 300 miles (480 kilometers) of driving from Cody, Wyoming.
Montana Gov. Gianforte, a Republican governor, has faced criticism from Democrats and members of the public for being out of the country at the time of the disaster.
Spokesman Brooke Stroke said the governor left last week on a long-term personal trip with his wife and was due to return on Thursday. She declined to say where he was, citing security concerns.
In his absence, Montana Governor Kristen Juras signed a declaration of emergency on Tuesday.
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Mellie reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press reporters Brittany Peterson at Red Lodge, Amy Beth Hanson at Helena, Mead Grover in Cheyenne, Wyoming and Lindsay Whitehurst of Salt Lake City contributed to the report.
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