As of Monday, June 13, all entrances to Yellowstone National Park have been temporarily closed off to the public due to ‘record levels of flooding,’ according to the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.
The cause of the flooding appears to be unusually high levels of rain. This is different from the less-severe flooding generally seen in Yellowstone at this time of year caused by snow melting into rivers and other bodies of water.
Thus far, the flood has caused immense damage to the park, but no flood-related deaths have been reported. However, some communities residing in the park are dealing with power outages and cut-off access to water.
The shutdown’s timing has been particularly concerning to park officials and stakeholders because it happened right at the beginning of summer and the tourist season. Tourism is the second-largest industry in Wyoming, with locations such as Yellowstone being significant attractions for tourists and generating a high revenue level for the state.
There is a chance that sections of Yellowstone that the flood has less damaged could open within the next few days. But according to Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly, “some sections of the park appear to be harder hit by flooding than elsewhere,” namely, larger sections of the park that could take much longer to be rebuilt and reopened.
Furthermore, Sholly explained that even if smaller sections of the park reopened, they would not be large enough to account for the number of tourists that would visit the entire park in a typical year.
According to Sholly, the park has never been closed due to flooding. The last time the entire park was closed was at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
