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Yellowstone Floods: 10 Photos Show Park Ravaged By Floodwaters

Torrential rains and melting snowpack caused historic flooding in Yellowstone National Park on Monday.

David Allen, Patch StaffVerified Patch Staff Badge
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High water in the Gardner River washed out part of a road on Monday along the North Entrance to Yellowstone National Park in Montana.
High water in the Gardner River washed out part of a road on Monday along the North Entrance to Yellowstone National Park in Montana. (National Park Service via AP)

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK — Visitors were evacuated and Yellowstone National Park officials closed off the entrances to the popular tourist destination Monday following torrential flooding caused by heavy rains and melting icecaps.

Dozens of campers stranded throughout the park had to be rescued by raft. Although no serious injuries were reported, officials are assessing the potential damage to structures and homes in Montana’s Stillwater County.

The northern part of Yellowstone as well as the park's gateway communities in southern Montana experienced the worst of the damage, The Associated Press reported.

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Floodwaters from the Gardner and Lamar rivers caused a rock landslide, cracked numerous roads and seemingly eviscerated a bridge. The road leading into Gardiner, a small Montana town of about 900 people, was entirely cut off.

Yellowstone visitor Parker Manning, of Terra Haute, Indiana, told the AP he "started seeing entire trees floating down the river, debris” and also saw "one crazy single kayaker coming down through."

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Flooding in Yellowstone National Park washed out a bridge over Rescue Creek on Monday. (National Park Service via AP)
A large rockslide closed North Entrance Road in Gardner Canyon of Yellowstone National Park in Montana Monday. All park entrances were temporarily closed Monday due to substantial flooding, rockslides and mudslides on roadways from recent record rainfall and flooding, park officials said. (National Park Service via AP)
The west entrance to Yellowstone National Park in Montana was absent of tourist traffic on Monday as officials temporarily closed all entrances due to torrential flooding. (National Park Service via AP)
The flooding Yellowstone River undercuts the river bank, threatening a house and a garage in Gardiner, Montana, on Monday. (Parker Manning via AP)
Flooding from heavy rains over the weekend caused road and bridge damage in Yellowstone National Park, leading park officials to close all the entrances through at least Wednesday. (Parker Manning via AP)
The flooding Yellowstone River undercuts the river bank, threatening a house and a garage in Gardiner, Montana, on Monday. (Sam Glotzbach via AP)
The fast-rushing Yellowstone River on Monday flooded what appeared to be a small boathouse in Gardiner, Montana, just north of Yellowstone National Park. (Sam Glotzbach via AP
The highway between Gardiner and Mammoth in Montana washed out, trapping tourists in Gardiner, as historic flooding damages roads and bridges and floods homes along area rivers on Monday. (Larry Mayer/The Billings Gazette via AP)
The Boulder River south of Big Timber flooded roads and homes on Monday, sweeping away at least one bridge, washing away roads and setting off mudslides in Yellowstone National Park in Montana. (Larry Mayer/The Billings Gazette via AP)

The Associated Press contributed reporting.

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