"Many sections of the road in (the northern section) have completely disappeared and will require significant time and effort to rebuild," a press release from the park said. "...it is likely that road sections in North Yellowstone will not reopen this season due to the time needed for repairs."
Serious flooding from torrential rain and rapid thaw began to hit the park and many counties in southern Montana on Monday, washing away or eroding roads and bridges and causing extensive damage to homes and businesses.
The park on Monday closed all five entrances to Yellowstone in Montana and Wyoming to incoming traffic — in part to prevent stranded people due to deteriorating conditions — without setting a specific date for their reopening.
Park officials have told visitors who are already there to leave — more than 10,000 have left the park since Monday, park director Cam Scholey said on Tuesday.
CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller said that although cold temperatures and dry weather allowed some parts of the swollen rivers to begin to recede, higher temperatures are expected later this week and into the end of the week, which could cause More snowmelt runoff and therefore more flooding.
"There will be no indoor traffic for visitors at any of the five entrances to the park, including visitors with stay and camping reservations, until conditions improve and the park's infrastructure is assessed," the park's statement read.
Rapidly deteriorating road conditions in Yellowstone led to appalling evacuation conditions for some visitors, including the parents of CNN's supervising producer Tim Carter, who had to make their way across a compromised bridge.
"When we were getting past it, it was really scary because the water was running wildly around the bridge," said Martha Carter. "We later found out that it was over."
Meanwhile, some communities were left without electricity or safe drinking water because flood conditions made travel impossible or unsafe and weakened the water supply.
Montana Government. Greg Gianforte declared a statewide disaster Tuesday and announce He will seek an urgent presidential disaster declaration to help cover recovery costs.
Since the rescue effort began Monday, the Montana National Guard has evacuated at least ten stranded people in Roscoe, Fromberg and Cook City, the force said in a press release.
Serious flooding is just one of several extreme weather events affecting communities across the United States, including a severe heat wave affecting more than 100 million people, and severe storms that have cut power for hundreds of thousands in the Midwest and Ohio River Valley. .
Massive floods prompted evacuations and rescue operations
Rapidly rising water levels inundated homes, businesses and infrastructure in southern Montana on Monday, forcing many families to evacuate. But for some, roads and bridges became impassable due to the flooding, leaving them trapped, sometimes without clean drinking water or electricity.
The Montana National Guard deployed four helicopters to assist with evacuations in affected areas on Monday and Tuesday and also sent soldiers to the city of Red Lodge to establish a command center and aid in search and rescue efforts, the force said Tuesday.
A helicopter company in Montana has moved about 40 people from Gardiner, the city that serves as the gateway to the park's northern entrance and has been cut off by flooding, Rocky Mountain Routers' Laura Jones told CNN.
The road from Livingston to Gardiner reopened on Tuesday to local traffic and goods and services, but there was still "significant damage," Park County Police Chief Brad Pichler said at a press conference.
Heavy rain and snow runoff over the weekend in the Beartooth and Absaroka mountain ranges, which stretch across the Montana-Wyoming border, caused a "total water event of at least 4 to 9 inches," the Billings National Weather Service reported Tuesday. .
This amount of runoff is similar to an area that receives two to three months of precipitation in June in just three days, according to CNN Weath